Joshua Schichtel, Botnet Distribution, Arizona 2023

A 30-year-old Phoenix man, Joshua Schichtel, has been sentenced to 30 months in federal prison for selling access to botnets, networks of malware-infected computers, to individuals who wanted to infect other computers with malicious software.

According to court documents, Schichtel sold access to these botnets, which comprised approximately 72,000 computers, to customers who paid him for installation of malware. In one instance, a customer paid Schichtel $1,500 for use of the botnet.

Schichtel entered a guilty plea on August 17, 2011, to one count of attempting to cause damage to multiple computers without authorization. He was sentenced by Chief U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth in the District of Columbia and ordered to serve three years of supervised release.

The case was investigated by the Washington Field Office of the FBI and prosecuted by Corbin Weiss, Senior Counsel in the Criminal Division’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section, and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia.

The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, which Schichtel violated, prohibits the transmission of programs, codes or commands to cause damage to computers without authorization.

Schichtel’s sentence serves as a warning to those who seek to exploit and profit from the vulnerabilities of others’ computer systems. The FBI and the Department of Justice will continue to work tirelessly to bring these perpetrators to justice.

This case highlights the growing threat of cybercrime and the importance of protecting computer systems from malicious attacks. As technology advances, so too must our efforts to combat these threats and keep our communities safe.

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