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THE MISSISSAUGA NEWS: Virus infected computers worldwide Mounties get their hacker

Mississauga News Online

Computer users urged to update protection

LOUIE ROSELLA
May 28, 2004

A Mississauga teen who allegedly hacked into more than 9,000 computers worldwide and launched a virus that caused many systems to crash now faces charges following an investigation by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP).

The 16-year-old boy, who cannot be identified under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, is charged with a number of computer-related offences, including mischief to data, fraudulent use of computer systems and aiding/abetting mischief to data.

The RCMP's technological crime unit in London tracked a variant of the well-known Randex virus, which had weaved into the computers of more than 9,000 unsuspecting internet users since November through such popular file-sharing programs as Kazaa and Limewire, which are often used to download music and movie files. Once inside an online computer, the virus received commands sent from the original hacker over a chat room.

"The affected computers automatically responded to malicious commands issued on particular channels of certain internet relay chat networks," said RCMP Sgt. George Wiegers yesterday.

The virus installed a "Trojan" program, according to police, allowing unauthorized access to, and use of the victim computers. The hacker could then make use of the victim computers in multiple ways, including sending out large amounts of junk e-mail, or cause the computer to crash at any given time, police said.

Wiegers wouldn't get into the specifics of the case, but said people and businesses did suffer from the crippling virus.

"The target could be a computer or network critical to one company that needs the computer up and running," he said. "The company may suffer financially and may suffer in numerous ways."

The RCMP are advising home internet users to be aware of the risks posed by such viruses.

"People who are connected to the internet need to take proactive steps to protect their system," Wiegers said.

"Try to look at the computer system you have now and ask 'Is this computer system secure?' While there are no certainties in the ever-growing world of internet crime, Wiegers advised internet users to update their anti-virus, anti-trojan and firewall software.

Just last summer, stubborn computer worm known as "Blaster" wiggled its way into thousands of homes and offices in Mississauga

The infamous worm, designed to shut down infected computers repeatedly, hit households and businesses worldwide, exposing a vulnerability in the Microsoft system.

Also last summer, a variant of the Blaster worm, Welchia, hit Air Canada's computers at Pearson International Airport, creating massive delays and line-ups. Affected users were forced to download special anti-virus equipment that should be installed regularly anyway, according to police.

"Nothing's going to guarantee you're going to be 100 per cent secure but (you should) take steps to protect your computer," said Wiegers.

"This will significantly reduce the vulnerability of a person's computer from being accessed without permission."

THE MISSISSAUGA NEWS

May 28, 2004 at 11:20 PM in Virus | Permalink | TrackBack (36) | Top of page | Blog Home