Rich Cholodofksy reports:
The lawyer for a former Franklin Regional High School student convicted of a cyberattack that disrupted more than a dozen computer systems throughout Westmoreland County in late 2016 told a judge it was all just a prank.
Defense attorney Lyle Dresbold said Michaela G. King uploaded a computer program she purchased for $5 to her school’s network without realizing just how much damage would be done by her actions.
[…]
That joke, according to prosecutors, resulted in computer systems linked through the Westmoreland Intermediate Unit to be flooded with data and ultimately crash. The disruption impacted computers at Derry Area, Greater Latrobe, Greensburg Salem, Ligonier Valley, Kiski Area, Burrell, Jeannette, Greensburg Central Catholic, Monessen and Hempfield school districts, as well as the Greensburg Catholic Diocese and Westmoreland County government.
Read more on TribLive. So she got off relatively lightly in terms of no jail time, but house arrest for two months and probation for two years, but she had to plead guilty to two felony counts. And that’s … severe.