Experts at IT security and control firm Sophos have reacted with
bewilderment at news that a jailed virus writer has been offered a
job - by one of the companies he succeeded in infecting.
According to Chinese media
reports, 25-year-old Li Jun, who was sentenced to
four years in prison this week for profiting from the worm he
created, has been offered a job paying a million yuan ($133,155)
salary. The offer to become the technology director of Jushu
Technology, a firm based in Hangzhou City, comes despite the firm
being itself a victim of the worm.
Li Jun wrote the Fujacks worm
(also known as Worm.Whboy) which made headlines earlier this year
because it converted icons of infected programs into a picture of a
panda burning joss-sticks as it stole usernames and passwords from
online games players
According to Wang Wanxiong, Li's lawyer, approximately ten
companies have offered jobs to the cybercriminal whom they regard
as a "precious genius."
The Fujacks worm changed icons of infected
programs to a picture of a panda holding joss-sticks, and stole
information from users of the QQ instant messaging
program.
"It's important that the IT community does not send out a
message that writing viruses or worms is cool, or a fast track into
employment," said Graham Cluley, senior
technology consultant for Sophos. "Li Jun broke the law and
infected innocent people's computers and websites, causing
financial damage. To reward his criminal act, infamy and bad
behavior with a job offer in the IT industry seems frankly
perverse."
Earlier this year, Sophos advised
computer users to think carefully about how they remedy virus
infections, following news that the Chinese police were planning to
release a clean-up program written by Li Jun.
"You would have had to have been crazy to rely upon a tool
written by the worm's author to clean-up an infection he created in
the first place," continued Cluley. "Virus writers have proven
themselves to be untrustworthy and having a weak sense of morals -
otherwise they wouldn't release their malware in the first
place."
Li Jun is not the first malware writer to have gained career
progression from the viruses he has written.
In 2001, the mayor of the town of Sneek in the Netherlands
suggested that resident Jan de Wit, who wrote the Anna Kournikova
worm, should be considered
for employment in the town's IT department. Three years ago,
Sven Jaschan, who authored the widespread Netsky and Sasser worms,
caused outrage in the IT community when he was hired by a
German security firm.
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.
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.