Fergie's Tech Blog

Update: Two Arrested in Zotob Worm Probe

An AP newswire article by Mark Sherman, via Yahoo! News, reports that:

Authorities in Morocco and Turkey have arrested two people believed to be responsible for unleashing a computer worm that infected networks at U.S. companies and government agencies earlier this month, the FBI said Friday.

Farid Essebar, 18, was arrested in Morocco, while Atilla Ekici, 21, was arrested in Turkey on Thursday, the FBI said. They will be prosecuted in those countries, the FBI said.

The worm disrupted computer operations in mid-August at several large news organizations, including The Associated Press, ABC, CNN, and The New York Times, such companies as heavy-equipment maker Caterpillar Inc. and the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement bureau.

Microsoft played a role in locating the suspects, the FBI said.

Two men have been arrested regarding the Zotob PnP worm case.

Moroccan authorities arrested "Diabl0", aka Farid Essebar and Turkey authorities arrested "Coder", aka Atilla Ekici. The suspects are aged 18 and 21, respectively.

Both nicknames can be found from the code of Zotob.A: the worm connected to a irc server named "diabl0.turkcoders.net" and contained the words "Greetz to good friend Coder".

Diabl0 is most likely associated with some of the Mytob variants too.

More from Maghrep Arabe Presse in Morocco.

posted by Fergie @ 8/26/2005 10:40:00 AM