Author of Chernobyl virus arrested in Taiwan

[William Knowles <wk () C4I ORG>]

http://www.zdnet.co.uk/news/2000/36/ns-17921.html

Fri, 15 Sep 2000 15:18:53 GMT
Will Knight

Could face up to three years in jail

The virus writer who created the infamous Chernobyl virus has been
detained by authorities in Taiwan and could face up to three years in
jail.

Chen Ing-hau escaped prosecution after being detained in 1999 but a
Taiwanese student whose computer was this year crippled by the virus
has brought new charges.

The virus, also known as CIH, is designed to trigger on the
anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. It is estimated to have
caused hundreds of millions of pounds of damage to computer systems
worldwide when it first struck in April 1999. The virus attempts to
erase the hard drive on a victim's computer.

The decision to arrest Chen Ing-hau has been welcomed by anti-virus
vendors. "It is encouraging to see the authorities in Taiwan take the
damage caused by viruses such as CIH seriously," said Graham Cluley,
senior technology consultant for Sophos Anti-Virus. "This sends a
strong message to virus writers that they will not escape punishment
for their actions."

Bringing virus writers to justice has often proved a tricky business.
Traversing international boundaries and ill-equipped laws have made it
difficult for law enforcers to bring charges for the famous Love Bug
virus released in May of this year.

In December of 1999 Chen Ing-hau landed a job at Taiwanese hardware
firm Wahoo International Enterprise on the back of his infamy.


*==============================================================*
"Communications without intelligence is noise;  Intelligence
without communications is irrelevant." Gen Alfred. M. Gray, USMC
================================================================
C4I.org - Computer Security, & Intelligence - http://www.c4i.org
*==============================================================*

ISN is hosted by SecurityFocus.com
---
To unsubscribe email LISTSERV () SecurityFocus com with a message body of
"SIGNOFF ISN".