German police said the unnamed high school student, who turned 18 at the end of April, confessed to creating the fast-spreading worm, but did not appear to have realized the damage it would cause.
   He faces possible charges of computer sabotage, a crime that carries a maximum five years in jail.
   The fact he was a minor when the worm was created may affect a court case, prosecutors said.
   Police did not provide the teen's name or details about him, but camera crews and reporters swooped down on his home in the sleepy town of Waffensen, population 920.
   "The rights have already been sold!" said a man who opened the door of the family's detached home in the western Lower Saxony town.
Since appearing a week ago, Sasser has wreaked havoc on personal computers running the Windows 2000, NT and XP operating systems.  Home users, corporations, and government agencies throughout Europe, North America and Asia have been hit.  Once infected, the vulnerable PC reboots without warning as the program hunts for more machines to infiltrate.
  Police painted a picture of a highly intelligent youth who was part of a circle of computer science students passionately involved in software programming.  They encouraged him to push his early virus writing efforts further.
   Helmut Trentmann of the state prosecutor's office said the youth's interest in programming was stimulated by his family's small computer business.
   Police said the teenager, who seemed taken aback at the extent of the damage caused, was trying to create an anti-virus to beat existing viruses, possibly as a challenge to other programmers.
"There are unfortunately these bizarre games.  Whether that was the case here will have to be seen," Sascha Hanke, a Microsoft  executive involved in data protection, told reporters.
Police said the youth had apparently started to become alarmed about the stir he caused but was surprised when police showed up at his home and confiscated a home-built computer used to create the worm.