A former substitute teacher who was convicted in January of exposing students to online pornography has now been granted a new trial.

In October of 2004, Julie Amero was substitute teaching in a Connecticut school when the classroom computer she was using began showing pornographic images. Amero contends that the images were caused by badware infecting the computer. Many security experts have agreed with Amero, citing out of date software on the computer Amero was using along with inadequate protections against badware.

Julie Amero’s case highlights the gap in public knowledge about badware and how to defend computers from infection. If the security experts assembled by Amero’s defense team are correct, the 2004 incident might have been prevented if the classroom computer’s software and anti-virus protections had been up to date.