PROGRAMMER JAILED OVER HACKER SOFTWARE

A Latvian computer programmer was sentenced to 14 years in prison for designing a program that helped hackers improve malware — including some used in the 2013 Target breach. Ruslan Bondars, a 37-year-old Latvian citizen, was found guilty at a May trial in Alexandria federal court, during which a coconspirator revealed the pair had worked with Russian law enforcement.

Hackers used their “Scan4You” program to see if anti-virus programs would identify their software as malicious; it could be adapted into malware kits.

Bondars argued there are legal uses for the product and he was not responsible for when it was used illegally.

“Our position protects all online businesses; all online businesses have legitimate and illegitimate users,” defence lawyer Jessica Carmichael said in court Friday.

“It’s an interesting theory,” Judge Liam O’Grady responded, but not one that applies in criminal cases.