Investigators Find Virus Similar to 'Love Bug'

[William Knowles <wk () C4I ORG>]

http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGIV1NFWB8C.html

MANILA, Philippines (AP) - A young computer graduate who insists he
had nothing to do with the "Love Bug" virus appears to have authored a
similar virus seized from the home of another potential suspect,
authorities said Tuesday.

The second virus was found on a computer diskette confiscated in a
raid on the apartment of computer student Onel A. de Guzman, who has
acknowledged he may have accidentally released the "ILOVEYOU" program,
officials of the National Bureau of Investigation said.

The second virus appears to have been written by de Guzman's friend,
Michael Buen, said Elfren L. Meneses Jr., the NBI's computer crimes
chief.

In its code, the virus acknowledges de Guzman as well as GRAMMERSoft,
a shadowy underground group of computer students being sought in the
probe, Meneses said.

In all, more than 40 people were acknowledged in the virus code, most
of them students from the computer college attended by Buen and de
Guzman.

Buen said Sunday he did not create or release the "Love Bug" program,
but Meneses said the seized diskette contained an ominous warning
about viruses that appeared to have been written by Buen.

The message said: "If I don't get a stable job by the end of the
month, I will release a third virus that will remove all files from
the primary disk."

Buen, 23, graduated from AMA Computer College on May 5, one day after
the "ILOVEYOU" virus was released, crippling e-mail systems worldwide
in a cyber catastrophe that could cost governments and businesses up
to $10 billion.

De Guzman, also 23, did not graduate after the faculty rejected his
proposed thesis project as a form of computer piracy.

Meneses said the virus purportedly written by Buen was discovered by
investigators in a deleted file on the diskette. It was written in the
Visual Basic programming language, like the "ILOVEYOU" virus, Meneses
told a news conference.

Buen was not at home when a reporter phoned seeking comment Tuesday
evening, according to his mother, Emma Buen. The young man's lawyer
did not immediately return phone calls.

The diskette was one of 17 seized in a raid on the apartment where de
Guzman lives with his sister and her boyfriend, who also became a
focus of the probe after authorities traced the outbreak of the virus
to the apartment's phone line. The other 16 diskettes contained no
incriminating evidence, Meneses said.

It is still too early to name a main suspect in the case or say
whether criminal charges will be filed, Meneses said. One stumbling
block to any criminal proceeding would be the lack of laws in the
Philippines prohibiting computer crimes.


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