20 Jun 2001
Kournikova suspect to appear in court
Reports from the Netherlands state that Jan de Wit, the
suspected author of the Anna Kournikova worm (also known as
VBS/SST-A) which
infected computers around the world in February 2001, is to be
prosecuted.
Jan de Wit is expected to appear in court on September 12, and
if found guilty could face a sentence of up to six months in prison
or a fine of up to 100,000 guilders.
The Anna Kournikova worm arrived in email inboxes pretending to
be a picture of the popular Russian tennis player, but in fact
contained a computer virus.
"Virus writing is not a game," said Graham Cluley, senior
technology consultant for Sophos. "Computer viruses can cause
untold damage and spread indiscriminately. Virus writers should
take this as a warning - the authorities are taking their
activities more seriously and are prepared to take decisive action.
If you don't want to end up in court, don't write and distribute
viruses."
Sophos recommends companies protect themselves with a consolidated solution which can control network access and defend
against the threats of spam, hackers, spyware and viruses.
About Sophos
More than 100 million users in 150 countries rely on Sophos as the best protection against complex threats and data loss. Sophos is committed to providing security and data protection solutions that are simple to manage, deploy and use and that deliver the industry's lowest total cost of ownership. Sophos offers award-winning encryption, endpoint security, web, email, and network access control solutions backed by SophosLabs - a global network of threat intelligence centers. With more than two decades of experience, Sophos is regarded as a leader in security and data protection by top analyst firms and has received many industry awards.
Sophos is headquartered in Boston, US and Oxford, UK. More information is available at www.sophos.com.