“2 held in probe of computer worm in U.S.,” from AP, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:
WASHINGTON “” Authorities in Morocco and Turkey have arrested two people thought responsible for a computer worm that infected networks at U.S. companies and government agencies earlier this month.
Farid Essebar, 18, was arrested in Morocco, while Atilla Ekici, 21, was arrested in Turkey on Thursday, Louis Riegel, the FBI’s assistant director for cyber crimes, said yesterday. They will be prosecuted in those countries, Riegel said.
Essebar wrote the code that attacked computers that run Microsoft operating systems and Ekici paid him for it, Riegel said. It’s unclear they ever met, “but they certainly knew each other via the Internet,” he said.
Riegel said he does not know how much money changed hands. Microsoft and FBI officials also declined to estimate the monetary damage done by the Zotob worm and its variations.