By Jo Best, 19 November 2004 12:35
NEWS Russian police have collared a virus writer and made him pay for his crimes - a whole £57.
The malware maker, Eugene Suchkov, was convicted of posting two virus exploits on the internet - Stepan and Gastropod - as well as sharing the code necessary to make new variants with the public at large. His malware misdeeds landed him with a 3,000 rouble fine - just under £57.
Suchkov, who went under the pseudonym 'whale', was part of the Russian virus writing gang 29A, whose other virus writing antics include creating the proof of concept code for the first mobile phone virus, Cabir.
Another member of the 29A gang, known as Benny, has learned how to make money from his virus writing - Benny has landed a job with a security firm, working on Czech firm Zoner Software's antivirus programs.
It's not the first time an ex-virus writer has been snapped up by a security firm. Sven Jaschan - the German teenager responsible for 70 per cent of virus infections in the first half of this year, according to antivirus firm Sophos - has been snapped up by firewall company Securepoint.
Comments
There are 7 comments. Join the discussion
1. Hid Sugiura
Yeah but what can u buy for 3000 roubles in Russia?
For all we know, u might be able to buy a house with that.
Nice large advertising btw.
2. Brian Burkill
Well, isnt that just typical..
People go out of their way to cause trouble, and end up in (probably) highly paid jobs working for the very people who try to thwart their previous activities.
And when not employed by these people, they get a paltry £57.00 fine.
Who says crime doesnt pay??
3. Joel Watson
i agree with the comment about the advert. not impressed.
4. royston
i suppose they inpounded his porsche for a raffle as well.(well a lada hit a few times with a hammer to make it look like one at least)
5. CPK Smithies
Anti-virus companies' first priority is their own survival!
If the anti-virus community - or indeed the industry press, e.g. Silicon.com - were in the least concerned with users' security, it would not reward virus writers, least of all with publicity.
As long as young programmers believe that writing a virus could lead to a prestigious job, young programmers will go to untold lengths to write the great virus of all time.
Which is in the interests of interesting copy, and in the interests of the anti-virus industry, but not (so far as I can see) in the public interest at all.
As if that mattered.
6. Randal Pitt
What advert?
7. Baron Omidi
Привет.
What £57 really means in Russia...
£57 is roughly the average monthly wage for a Russian.
So... all of a sudden it's a considerable amount of money!
BTW. There are very few houses but mainly flats in Russia. A flat in central Russia will cost around 250,000 Roubles.
Now... who said that one can't learn anything from the internet? ;)
За здоровье!