Computer Virus Writers Mostly Obsessed Males — Expert

Male. Obsessed with computers. Lacking a girlfriend. Aged 14 to 34. Capable of sowing chaos worldwide. That is the profile of the average computer-virus writer, an anti-virus expert said on Tuesday. About 1,000 viruses are created every month by virus writers increasingly intent on targeting new operating systems, said Jan Hruska, the chief executive of British-based Sophos Plc, the world’s fourth-largest anti-virus solutions provider. “So far, we’ve seen no indication of decreased interest in virus writing,” Hruska told Reuters in an interview. “Virus writers are constantly looking for new vectors of infection, targeting the vulnerabilities of operating systems to exploit them for their creations,” he said. Hruska said the number of viruses created would continue to climb in the coming years. In almost all cases, virus writers were computer-obsessed males between the ages of 14 to 34 years, he said. “They have a chronic lack of girlfriends, are usually socially inadequate and are drawn compulsively to write self-replicating codes. It’s a form of digital graffiti to them,” Hruska said. In January, Welsh virus writer and web designer Simon Vallor, 22, was sentenced to two years’ jail for spreading three mass-mailing computer viruses that allegedly infected more than 27,000 computers in 42 countries. Full Story