The arrest in Germany of two men suspected of writing crippling computer worms may be the biggest break yet in taking down the most prolific virus-writing group, security experts said on Saturday. Since January, a group of crafty programers going by the name “Skynet anti-virus group” have been flooding the Internet with multiple variations of the debilitating Netsky virus, some capable of hijacking unwitting Internet users’ PCs with the aim of using them to send out spam e-mail or attack Web sites. But on Friday, German police made two arrests that security officials hope could ultimately expose the murky underground of virus-writers and hackers and crack into one of the most rapidly growing areas of cybercrime. Acting on a tip-off from reward-seekers and information from Microsoft itself, German police on Friday arrested an 18-year-old programer from the state of Lower Saxony who admitted to writing the super-potent Sasser computer worm. Microsoft general counsel Brad Smith said on Saturday the suspect is also believed to be responsible “for the creation of all 28 variants of the Netsky virus.” Full Story
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