Free Republic

Authorities in Morocco and Turkey have arrested two people believed 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 M. Riegel, the FBI's assistant director for cyber crimes, said Friday. They will be prosecuted in those countries, Riegel said. Essebar wrote the code that attacked computers that run Microsoft Corp. 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,"...

<p>UPDATE: MSM PCs under attack by Zotob worm - CNN, NYT, ABCNEWS - update your virus defs NOW!</p> <p>Live on CNN right now ... Most PCs running Win2000 or older are now dead at MSM locations all over NYC, as well as some PCs at CNN Atlanta, and it's spreading.</p>

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - A new Internet virus has been detected that can infect Microsoft's Windows platforms faster than previous computer worms, said an anti-virus computer software maker. The ZOTOB virus appeared shortly after the world's largest software maker warned of three newly found "critical" security flaws in its software, including one that could allow attackers to take complete control of a computer. The latest worm exploits security holes in Microsoft's Windows 95, 98, ME, NE, 2000 and XP platforms and can give computer attackers remote access to affected systems, said Trend Micro Inc.. "Hundreds of infection reports were sighted...