An Internet scheme that infected more than 4 million computers in over 100 countries saw the main three culprits, three Estonian men, sentenced to more than 3 years in prison.

U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan imposed the sentences in Manhattan federal court made this statement regarding the influx of computer crimes he is seeing: "It's hard to pick up a newspaper this summer without reading about another one," Kaplan said as he explained why it was necessary to impose tough sentences on three men who seemed "extremely remorseful."

The three men, Timur Gerassimenko, 35, Dmitri Jegorov, 37, and Konstantin Poltev, 31 were sentenced to 4 years, 3 2/3 years and 3 1/3 years respectively. Gerassimenko was ordered to forfeit $2.5 million while Jegorov and Poltev were each told to forfeit $1 million.

According to government prosecutors, Gerassimenko hired programmers, Jegorov was the lead network administrator while Poltev was the public face of the enterprise.

Prosecutors say the men and others made more than $14 million with a scheme that infected over a half-million computers in the United States alone. Targets of the hacks included NASA, along with educational institutions, nonprofit organizations, businesses and individuals.

The three must first serve their sentences in Estonia before serving their time in the U.S.

Source: NBCNews