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Manila Police Seeking 10 'Love Bug' Suspects
From: William Knowles <wk () C4I ORG>
Date: Tue, 9 May 2000 01:01:27 -0500
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20000509/ts/virus_philippines_10.html By Sharon Buan Tuesday May 9 1:14 AM ET MANILA (Reuters) - Philippine police said on Tuesday some 10 people with links to a Manila computer school are suspected to have created the devastating ``Love Bug'' virus that penetrated millions of computers worldwide last week. A Filipino couple named on Monday as the main suspects in the case have attended the AMA Computer College (AMACC), owned by the former head of the government's program to combat the Y2K bug, they said. Elfren Meneses of the Philippine National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) told reporters some 10 coded names were found embedded in the virus. ``There were reports from the FBI (the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation) that the names are somewhat from an organization called AMACC,'' he said, adding that the college promised to help in investigations. AMACC said in a press statement on Monday it was aware of reports that some people with links to it were accused of creating the ``Love Bug,'' and it did not condone hacking. Commitment To Cooperate ``The AMACC reaffirms its commitment to cooperate with all investigating bodies and shall make available its resources to assist in the efforts,'' it said. Reomel Ramones, a 27-year-old man, is the only one arrested in the case so far. His girlfriend Irene de Guzman was also named by the NBI as a suspect after their dilapidated Manila flat was searched by detectives on Monday. De Guzman told the NBI she would turn herself in for questioning but had not yet done so, Meneses said. Ramones, who was held overnight, has had access to lawyers and charges against him may be filed later in the day, the NBI officer said. NBI chief Federico Opinion said all suspects in the case would be subjected to questioning. ``As some said, they might have been just playing around but we will know that because they will be subjected to tactical interrogation later,'' he told the DZMM radio station. Opinion also said that although no computer was found in a search of the flat where Ramones and de Guzman stayed, there was evidence one had been kept there and then removed. ``There were no computers retrieved but there were indications of equipment taken out, there were computer parts,'' he said. Under Surveillance Since Saturday The NBI had kept the flat under surveillance since Saturday, soon after it was informed by local Internet service providers and overseas authorities that the computer virus was suspected to have originated there. But it could not move because computer hacking is not a crime under Philippine law and it could not procure a search warrant until Monday. Damage from the ``Love Bug'' virus and variants has already reached about $5 billion and could amount to $10 billion before the viruses could be eradicated, the U.S. firm Computer Economics said. The original virus, tagged ``ILOVEYOU,'' works by enticing e-mail recipients to open an attached letter, only to cripple their e-mail systems. Upon opening the attachment using Microsoft software such as the Outlook program, it sends a copy of the virus to everyone in the user's address book and seeks to destroy a variety of files throughout a computer network, including picture and music files. The latest variants on the virus include tainted messages with subject lines such as Dangerous Virus Warning; Virus ALERT; How To Protect Yourself From The ILOVEYOU Bug; and Thank You For Flying With Arab Airlines. *-------------------------------------------------* "Communications without intelligence is noise; Intelligence without communications is irrelevant." Gen. Alfred. M. Gray, USMC --------------------------------------------------- C4I Secure Solutions http://www.c4i.org *-------------------------------------------------* ISN is sponsored by SecurityFocus.com --- To unsubscribe email LISTSERV () SecurityFocus com with a message body of "SIGNOFF ISN".
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- Manila Police Seeking 10 'Love Bug' Suspects William Knowles (May 09)