Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Second Suspect Arrested for Internet Virus

From: [email-masked]
Date: Thu, 04 Sep 2003 03:39:24 -0400

Second Suspect Arrested for Internet Virus
By JIM KRANE
The Associated Press
Wednesday, September 3, 2003; 5:54 PM

Police in Romania on Wednesday arrested a 24-year-old former student in connection
with a computer-crippling Internet worm, according to a computer security company
that aided police.

The company, Bucharest-based BitDefender, identified the student as Dan Dumitru
Ciobanu, a 24-year-old graduate of the Technical University of Iasi, in
northeastern Romania.

Police detained Ciobanu in connection with a modified and milder version of the
Blaster worm, said Patrick Vicol, a virus analyst at BitDefender. Dubbed
MsBlast.F, it was unleashed on computers of the Technical University, Vicol said.

Last week, Minneapolis high school senior Jeffrey Parson, 18, was charged with
letting loose a different variation of the Blaster worm.

Authorities said Parson admitted during an interview with FBI and Secret Service
agents that he tinkered with the original "Blaster" infection that made computers
attack the Microsoft Web site last month. Prosecutors said Parson's worm affected
at least 7,000 computers.

In Romania, Vicol said BitDefender had responded to a police request to track down
the author of MsBlast.F.

Company analysts traced Ciobanu through some Romanian-language text inside the
virus that eventually led them to a Web page containing Ciobanu's home address and
telephone number, Vicol said. "We tracked him using the bulletin boards. He
actually gave his name - not a very smart thing to do," Vicol said in a telephone
interview.

The Romanian-language message in the virus "says something not very polite about a
teacher" at Ciobanu's former university, Vicol said. Vicol stressed that both
Ciobanu and Parson are suspected of merely modifying the text of the original
Blaster, not of authoring the virus that snarled computer networks worldwide
beginning Aug. 11 by exploiting a flaw in Microsoft Corp.'s Windows operating
systems. Unlike the original Blaster that experts say infected at least half a
million computers, Vicol said he doubted the "F" version had spread beyond
Romania. Police seized computers from Ciobanu's home and workplace - at a photo
developing lab - that BitDefender will analyze for evidence of the worm, Vicol
said.

Ciobanu could face up to 15 years in prison under a new law in Romania, according
to BitDefender's Web site.
Parson faces one count of intentionally causing damage to a protected computer.
Conviction could bring a maximum 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

On the Net:
http://www.bitdefender.com
Technical University of Iasi: http://www.tuiasi.ro

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A21387-2003Sep3.html

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