Teenage Blaster worm suspect facing arrest

By Alun Williams

Posted on 29 Aug 2003 at 14:10

It is believed the FBI has closed in on the author of a recent malicious computer worm, Blaster. The suspect, an eighteen year-old American, has already been questioned and is now facing charges according to Reuters.

The Blaster Worm made its mark earlier this month - Blaster worm set to attack Microsoft's update service. It exploits a vulnerability in Windows (from NT to XP) relating to the Remote Procedure Call (RPC) protocol, and was also timed to attack Microsoft's Windows update service on 16 August.

It now seems that the anonymous author behind one of the Internet worms will be held publicly responsible for his acts.

'A clear message needs to go out to all of those who think distributing and writing viruses is 'cool' or 'harmless fun'. Once a virus has been released on the Internet it can never be taken back, it is no longer under anybody's control and can be very damaging,' said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos Anti-Virus. 'It has not taken the FBI long to act in this case, which is a strong indication that law enforcement authorities worldwide are getting better at chasing and capturing cyber-criminals.'

To be precise, reports from the Seattle Times suggest that the man in question is the author of Blaster-B, a more powerful variant of the original Blaster worm.