Yes, and they'll throw several books at him, fine his "legitimate income" - they haven't outlawed these affiliate scams, right? - pat themselves on the back and proclaim to be fighting the terrible hacker scourge.

And it's so much easier to feel good about ourselves dumping blame and anger on a deserving target, such as a bot herder.

And at the end of the day when the dust settles: the government, the hospital administration, and everyone else involved in these "protected" and "critical" systems will get away with their criminal negligence and ignorance. Gee, Ms. Smith, sorry about your husband, but it seems we have critical life-sustaining systems that are vulnerable to a 20 year old kid getting rich getting clicks on Viagra ads - which could only happen, by the by, if the spam *works* - and that're maintained by a Microsoft-propaganda-spouting feeb who's memorized the "why Windows is more secure than Linux" page of spin but can't tell when someone's pulled his network down around his ankles and stuffed an Pwned up his bum.

Great.

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Link to this comment: http://www.securityfocus.com/comments/newsbriefs/204/962#962