A man in Texas has admitted to having trained a botnet on an ISP in order to demonstrate custom-built malware to a potential customer.

"David Anthony Edwards of Mesquite, Texas admitted that in August 2006 he and alleged accomplice Thomas James Frederick Smith unleashed a flood of data on ThePlanet.com to demonstrate the effectiveness of bot software they called Nettick, according to court documents," writes The Register's Dan Goodin. "The men allegedly told one purchaser they had 22,000 zombie machines under their control and would sell them for 15 cents apiece in minimum batches of 5,000."

"Smith, most recently of Parris Island, South Carolina, has pleaded not guilty to the charges," Goodin writes. "A trial is scheduled to begin May 17."

Click here to read the article at The Register.