Student Sentenced for Computer Fraud

Student Sentenced for Computer Fraud

Ryan Goldstein, a 22-year-old University of Pennsylvania student, has been sentenced to 90 days in prison for computer fraud charges and was fined US$30,000. He is also required to pay $6,100 in restitution to the University of Pennsylvania. In addition, Goldstein will serve 90 days in a halfway house once he is released, followed by 180 days of home confinement. He will be put under probation for five years.


Goldstein was proven responsible for persuading a teen-aged New Zealand hacker, identified as Owen Walker, to launch DDOS attacks  against the networks that banned him from at least one of the forums in the website called ssgroup.org. Authorities also filed a case against Walker, as part of Bot Roast II. He operated a large botnet network of hacked computers which he has been using for malicious purposes.



As part of their agreement, Goldstein gave passwords and hacking software to Walker in exchange for the DDOS attack.