A virus writer accused of creating an MSBlast variant last year is to face a Romanian court this week and could be sentenced to 15 years in jail if convicted. Dan Dumitru Ciobanu, 26, is alleged to have written a computer virus that spread over the intranet of a Romanian university in September 2003. The virus only hit 27 machines but Ciobanu still faces between three and 15 years in jail for "unlawful possession of a program and disturbing a computer system". Researchers from antivirus firm BitDefender helped identify Ciobanu after being drafted in by Romanian authorities. The suspect will appear before the Iasi county Court of Appeals this week.