SYDNEY - The mayor of the Dutch town that spawned the Anna
Kournikova computer worm (also known as VBS/SST-A) has reportedly
made a tentative job offer to the virus author.
Newspapers this weekend reported that Mayor Sieboldt Hartkamp
was pleased with the attention the Kournikova worm had brought the
Dutch town of Sneek.
Hartkamp was reported as referring to the Kournikova worm
outbreak which infected hundreds of thousands of computers as a
"joke", and said of its author: "It is obvious that the young man
is very capable and it is in our interest to employ people like him
in our information technology department."
The mayor went on to say that he would be prepared to offer the
author a "serious interview" once his studies were completed.
Mayor Hartkamp's comments parallel many made in the Philippines
where the author of the infamous Love Bug became a national
celebrity and received many job offers from software companies.
"Virus writers are like fire bugs," Richard Baldry, Managing
Director of Sophos Australia, says. "They irresponsibly and
deliberately throw a lighted match into the bush area without
considering the consequences -- or caring about them. A bush fire
often results.
"Are these really the kind of people you would want to hire to
work in the fire brigade?"
In Taiwan,Chen Ing-Hau, the author of the highly damaging
W95/CIH-10xx virus,
was employed by a software company who astonishingly issued a press
release about having headhunted the virus writer.
"Instead of society applauding virus writers, it's time for us
to teach youngsters that the damage caused by virus distribution is
not only anti-social but a criminal offence in many countries,"
Baldry says.
"It isn't cool and it isn't clever. People who distribute
viruses and worms cost companies considerable money, and make
computing less fun for all of us."
In reality, it appears that like many virus authors, the author
of the Kournikova worm is not "very capable". He has shown little
programming knowledge, and used a simple virus construction kit to
help him create his 'malware', Baldry says.
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