Posted by Virus Bulletin on Feb 14, 2004
Well known female virus writer arrested. Finally.
Last month the Belgian Federal Crime Unit reported that they had arrested and questioned the virus writer known as 'Gigabyte'.
Never one to shy away from the media spotlight (in fact, quite the opposite), Gigabyte's notoriety centres on the fact she is female - defying the ever-popular perception that virus writers are single males in their late teens to early twenties - and on her very public spats with Sophos's spokesman Graham Cluley. She even went as far as to write two viruses (W32/Parrot and W32/Coconut) dedicated to him.
The 19-year-old, who was held in custody overnight, was charged with 'computer data sabotage' and her five computers were confiscated. The website upon which she posted her viruses was also shut down.
After several years of maintaining a very public profile and having written seven viruses - including W32/Sharpei, the first virus containing functional C# code (see VB, April 2002, p.4) - it is perhaps surprising that Gigabyte was not apprehended some time ago. If convicted the virus writer will face a prison sentence of up to three years as well as fines totalling up to 100,000 Euros.
Posted on 14 February 2004 by Virus Bulletin
