The 20-year-old set out to damage computer networks and send massive amounts of spam.

Any computer user who has ever been the victim of a virus, worm or Trojan horse shall be excused the schadenfreude he or she feels at the news of this lengthy prison sentence.

Reuters:

LOS ANGELES – A 20-year-old who prosecutors say highjacked computers to damage computer networks and send waves of spam across the Internet was sentenced on Monday to nearly five years in prison.

Jeanson James Ancheta, a well-known member of the “Botmaster Underground” who pleaded guilty in January to federal charges of conspiracy, fraud and damaging U.S. government computers, was given the longest sentence for spreading computer viruses, federal prosecutors said.

He was sentenced to 57 months in prison and three years of supervised release by U.S. District Judge Gary Klausner, who also ordered him to pay $15,000 in restitution to the U.S. Naval Air Warfare Center in China Lake, California, and forfeit to the government some $60,000 in illicit gains.

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