German teen accused of creating computer virus in court

A teenager has gone on trial in Germany accused of creating a computer virus last year that caused havoc around the world. Sven Jaschan entered the court building in Verden without speaking to reporters. He is appearing before judges behind closed doors because he was a minor at the time of the alleged offence. The charges include disrupting public service and illegally altering data.

Jaschan, who went on to find a job with a computer security company, faces up to five years in jail if found guilty. He is accused of spreading the “Sasser” worm around the world, causing at least two million computer systems to crash. One airline in the US had to cancel its weekend flights because of the virus. The youth was arrested after a tipoff from someone trying to claim a sizeable reward from the computer company Microsoft.

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