First published: 30th September 2007
Li Jun, the author of the Fujacks worm, and his co-defendants Wang Lei, Zhang Shun and Lei Lei were sentenced by a court in Xiantao, Hubei province in September 2007 to between one and four years in jail with Li receiving the stiffest sentence.
However, just days after the sentences were passed, Li Jun, who had confessed to writing the worm and selling it for over 100,000 yuan, was offered a million-yuan salary job as technology director of Jushu Technology, a firm based in Hangzhou City and one of the victims of the worm. Wang Wanxiong, Li's lawyer, has said that ten companies have offered jobs to Li, whom they regard as a "precious genius."
Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos commented, "It's important that the IT community does not send out a message that writing viruses or worms is cool, or a fast track into employment. Li Jun broke the law and infected innocent people's computers and websites, causing financial damage. To reward his criminal act, infamy and bad behaviour with a job offer in the IT industry seems frankly perverse."
