A California man has been charged in a computer attack that crippled Seattle's Northwest hospital in January 2005. The hospital's network went down when Christopher Maxwell launched a "botnet" strike that caused computers on the hospital's network to be infected with malicious adware. The attack knocked out doctor's pagers, shut down the ICU and made the hospital's electronic medical records system inaccessible. According to prosecutors, the scheme was part of a series of attacks that used hacking techniques to install adware on to computers on corporate and university networks, earning Maxwell and two juvenile co-conspirators more than $100,000. If convicted, Maxwell faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.
- see this article from the San Jose Mercury News