Police Deny 2nd Suspect in Worm Case
BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Police on Thursday denied reports that a man has been detained in connection with a computer-crippling Internet worm, but confirmed they were investigating a suspect whom they declined to name.
A computer security company reported Wednesday that police had detained a suspect for allegedly creating MsBlast.F, a worm that infected computers of a university in northeastern Romania.
Bucharest-based BitDefender had responded to a police request to track down the author of MsBlast.F, said company spokesman Mihai Radu. The computer security company identified the person as Dan Dumitru Ciobanu, a 24-year-old graduate of the Technical University of Iasi, some 250 miles northeast of Bucharest as the alleged author of the modified and milder version of the Blaster worm.
The Romanian version of the worm was identified Monday.
Romanian police spokesman Marius Tache denied that authorities had detained a suspect in the case. He said the local anti-organized crime police department was investigating a suspect, but he would not immediately say if it was indeed Ciobanu.
Despite repeated calls, police refused to name the suspect, saying the information could endanger their investigation.
Radu said Ciobanu’s computers, one at home and one at work, were confiscated and they will be brought to Bucharest for further investigations.
Last week, Minneapolis high school senior Jeffrey Parson, 18, was charged with letting loose a different variation of the Blaster worm.
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.
In Romania, releasing a computer virus carries a prison sentence of up to 15 years.
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