For Immediate Release
August 26, 2005
|
Washington D.C.
FBI National Press Office
(202) 324-3691
|
FBI ANNOUNCES TWO ARRESTS
IN MYTOB AND ZOTOB COMPUTER
WORM INVESTIGATION
Washington, D.C. - Working
with law enforcement authorities in Morocco and Turkey, the FBI today announced
the arrests of two individuals believed to be responsible for the creation
and distribution of the "Mytob" and "Zotob" computer
worms that were unleashed less than two weeks ago and disrupted services
on computer networks of a variety of companies including major U.S. news
organizations.
With the help of Moroccan authorities, Ministry
of Interior Turkish National Police , and valuable assistance from Microsoft
Corporation, these individuals were arrested yesterday without incident. Arrested
in Morocco was Farid Essebar, 18, a Moroccan national born in Russia who
went by the screen moniker "Diabl0." Arrested in Turkey was Atilla
Ekici, aka "Coder," a 21-year old resident of Turkey. Both individuals
will be subject to local prosecutions.
FBI Cyber Division Assistant Director Louis
M. Reigel III said, "In today's world of sophisticated technology, cyber
criminals need very few tools to carry out their crimes. With a few
strokes on a keyboard and a click of a mouse, malicious computer code can
instantly spread across computer networks all over the world causing significant
damage and dollar loss. In the FBI, we confront this problem by teaming
our highly skilled cyber investigators with other domestic and international
law enforcement agencies as well as private sector companies including Microsoft
and various members of the anti-virus community. The swift resolution
of this matter is the direct result of effective coordination and serves
as a good example of what we can achieve when we work together."
Microsoft Senior Vice President and General Counsel
Brad Smith said, " "We congratulate the Turkish and Moroccan authorities
and the FBI for finding and apprehending the alleged distributors of the
Zotob and Rbot worms so quickly. These arrests demonstrate the value of public-private
collaboration - the first-class investigative work by the authorities and ‘round-the-clock
technical and investigative support provided by our Internet Crime Investigations
Team here at Microsoft. The results show clearly that cyber criminals
will be identified, apprehended and held accountable for their actions."
W32.Zotob is a worm that targets Windows 2000
and XP-based computers. The worm opens a back door and exploits the
Microsoft Windows Plug and Play Buffer Overflow Vulnerability (described
in Microsoft Security Bulletin MS05-039).
Information concerning the worm and its removal
can be located on the Microsoft Website at: www.microsoft.com/security/incident/zotob.mspx
The investigation is continuing and the FBI will
assist appropriate authorities with respect to the institution and prosecution
of any charges.
To protect against various computer infections,
PC users should adopt a maintenance mindset to help keep their devices safe
and practice good security behaviors. These include using an Internet firewall,
diligently installing security updates, using up-to-date antivirus software,
as well as using newer and more secure software that has been engineered
to better protect against emerging online threats.
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