Federal prosecutors credited the man responsible for
transmitting the Melissa virus - a computer bug that did more than $80
million in damage in 1999 - with helping the FBI bring down several major
international hackers.
. . .
The letter says that two months after his arrest, Smith gave the FBI the
name, home address, e-mail accounts and other Internet data for Jan DeWit,
the author of the so-called Anna Kournikova virus in the Netherlands. The
FBI passed the information on to authorities in the Netherlands. DeWit was
arrested and later sentenced to probation.
Also in 2001, Smith recorded online discussions with Simon Vallor, the
author of the "Gokar" virus that infected Microsoft computer systems
worldwide. The FBI contacted detectives in the United Kingdom, who arrested
Vallor early the next year.
Vallor, 22, was sentenced to two years in jail after pleading guilty in
London to writing and distributing "Gokar" and two other viruses.
The federal prosecutor also said that Smith was working with the FBI to
develop an investigative tool that theoretically could help identify an
e-mail sender who was trying to mask his or her identity.
Smith began cooperating with the FBI immediately after his arrest. He told
the judge while pleading guilty that he did not expect the amount of damage
that took place.
