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A trial will soon begin in Karaganda district court, the likes of which have never before been seen in our city. Twenty-three year-old Valeriy Vodnev will be tried for selling a diskette containing a computer virus. The transaction's circumstances are unique, since the harmful program was requested by a young man who, after a fight with his wife, decided to pull a prank on her - wrecking her home computer by 'infecting' it with a virus.
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IMPERATIVE REQUESTSIn his free time, Valeriy Vodnev helped his relatives in their tiny store.
"I bought a computer on credit, for 180 thousand tenge (about $1200), for transcribing text, printouts, and copies," said Aleksandr, owner of 'Kulpan' on Erubaev street. "Valeriy provided this service, he would come into the store when he was off from his normal job. We started back in mid-February."
That was when a man came in and asked for Valeriy. He said that he had a fight with his wife, and shared with Valeriy his plans for revenge. He asked him to find an infected computer file.
"I still don't know what that guy's name was. When he asked me, I refused to do it," explained Valeriy Vodnev. "I told him that there are lots of viruses on the internet, download any of them, but he said that he really need it, please help. 'We're breaking up' he said, and he wanted to wreck her computer, but I told him no, and he left. But a few days later he came back. He said something along the lines of 'Why is it so hard? We're all people. Give me a hand' and this went on four or five times. Finally he got to me, always coming in. I asked a friend from school to download some sort of virus onto a diskette for me. I said some guy had been asking, and I was tired of it. I don't even have a computer at home, and the one in the store isn't connected to the internet. So my buddy promised to go look."
Why did the vindictive young man choose 'Kulpan'? And why did he choose Valeriy Vodnev? He claimed that acquaintances told him that Valeriy was someone who dealt in virus programs. Valeriy denied these allegations, supposedly he only prints documents and makes copies. Making diskettes with viruses, that is a no-no.
What is interesting, is how that financial police went after this important 'criminal ' by the name of Valeriy Vodnev.
DELIVERY
As promised, Valeriy's frield found a virus on the internet and copied the file to a diskette. By this time, however, the quarreling couple had reconciled. The husband confessed to his truly beloved, and told her of his insidious plans, how he had wanted to ruin her home computer with a virus. After some thought, the couple decided to go to the financial police and turn in their involuntary 'benefactor', Valeriy Vodnev.
Court documents show that the husband signed his accusation on March 1st. On that same day he was entrusted with a 500-tenge banknote (about $3.40), the serial number of which was recorded by the police. At about Noon he went to 'Kulpan' with a tiny microphone hidden in his clothing.
"My friend who copied the virus from internet was in the store," Valeriy explained. "And then that fellow comes in. 'We copied it' I told him, whether it works or not, I don't know. I gave him the diskette and he gives me 500 tenge, though we never discussed money. I took it and gave it to my friend 'to pay for the internet'. The guy left, and just five minutes later a bunch of comrades in civilian clothes burst in. With a camera. They don't show any ID. 'This is a bust!' they yell. 'A virus disk was sold here! This is illegal!' Then they searched the store. They took everything that had to do with computers. All the personal video disks of my relative who owns the store. Then they took me with them and kept me until late at night. They interrogated me with: 'If you tell it like it was then you can go home, if not - you'll stay'."
"IF THEY'RE GOING TO TRY ONE, WHY NOT TWO"
Now Valery Vodnev is accused of breaking Article 227, Part 3, of the (Kazakhstani) Criminal Code - 'propagation of programs which cause the unsanctioned destruction, blocking, modification, or copying of information, in order to disrupt the operation of a computer system or network'. Valeriy will not be imprisoned, but is threatened with a hefty fine. Neither he, nor his lawyer, Semyon Alter, relish this prospect. Valeriy does not deny that he gave out a diskette containing a virus. He asserts that he did it unselfishly, after yielding to persistant persuasion. He believes that if they are going to try him, then he should share the defendant's bench with the fellow who wanted to play the prank on his wife.
"This fellow wasn't charged with any crime," Attorney Alter explained. "In Article 28, Part 4, of the Criminal Codex is the definition of an instigator: a person who causes another to commit a crime. Including by means of persuasion. He tried to persuade Valery several times. There is a witness - a saleslady from the store, she identified him. If this person had not come to Valeriy, then nothing would have happened. Why did the investigation not include this fellow as sharing responsibility in the crime? My personal opinion is that he was an agent of the financial police. Or... I don't know what they call these types of people there. This was entrapment."
"If that guy would sit on the defendant's bench with me, that would be sufficient. If they're going to try one, why not two? Sometimes, though, I think that it's all getting to me, and I just wish they'd just get it over with," said Valeriy.
| BY THE WAY The court documents state that the virus Valeriy's friend copied from the internet was the computer program 'WIN32.KPIZ.4233'. An expert concluded that the file was infected with a virus. On the internet, however, there is no 'infection' with such a cipher. Most likely, the inspector was made a typo. There are a series of viruses under the abbreviation 'WIN32.KRIZ'. The virus is characterized as extremely dangerous, and becomes active on December 25th. On that date the virus erases the CMOS - information about the computer's motherboard, memory, harddrive, and internal clock, and writes 'garbage' on all disks from C: to Z:. For example, instead of text a bunch of meaningless curlicues appear. Besides defiling all information stored on the computer, the virus can also wreck the motherboard, paralyzing the computer. Specialists state that it is better to throw out the infected computer and purchase a new one. |
| Investigator's Commentary "WE WANTED TO ESTABLISH A PRECEDENT" "First, the fellow who wanted to ruin his wife's computer was not our agent," commented Mereke Abdrakhmanov, senior investigator for the district department of economic crime and corruption. "He really wanted to do it. Secondly, his actions did not constitute a crime. This fellow has suffered a crime. He may have wanted to wreck a computer, but he voluntarily decided to forego his criminal intentions. Article 227 concerns the propagation of computer virus programs. The legislators foresaw the possiblity of danger to the public, and this is the very nature of this crime which Vodnev comitted. We wanted to establish a precedent, because these days there are a lot of crimes connected with computers." |
