Paras Jha, one of three people responsible for the Mirai Botnet, was ordered on Friday to pay $8.6 million in damages and serve six months of house arrest after pleading guilty to violating the Computer Fraud & Abuse Act (CFAA) in Federal district court in New Jersey. In 2017 Jha also pleaded guilty in Alaska to different charges of conspiracy to violate CFAA, and was sentenced last month to perform 2,500 hours of community service “to include continued work with the FBI on cybercrime and cybersecurity matters.” Jha also had to pay $127,000 in restitution in the Alaska case. At its height, the Mirai Botnet was a network of more than 100,000 infected internet-connect devices. Its creators used the infected network to perpetrate advertising fraud, as well as launch cyberattacks against business and organizations–including Rutgers (Jha is an alum of Rutgers) and Dyn–by bombarding them with internet access requests. Jha’s co-conspirators also pleaded guilty in Alaska to charges related to Mirai in 2017.

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Kate Polit
Kate Polit
Kate Polit is MeriTalk's Assistant Copy & Production Editor covering the intersection of government and technology.
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