Out-Law / Your Daily Need-To-Know

UK police yesterday arrested two individuals on suspicion of involvement in the dissemination of a computer worm that infected approximately 18,000 PCs worldwide and caused damages estimated to run to millions of pounds, according to Reuters and Silicon.com.

The suspects are reported to be a 19-year old electrician and an unemployed 21-year old, both from County Durham. As the suspects have yet to be charged, their names have not been disclosed.

It appears that the operation, during which evidence related to computer offences was seized, was conducted in co-operation with the US Computer and Technology Crime Hi-Tech Response Team (CATCH), based in Southern California.

The two individuals are suspected to be members of an international hacking group known as "THr34t-Krew", which claims to have created and distributed malicious code, known as the "TK" worm.

The UK's National High-Tech Crime Unit (NHTCU), which is interviewing the suspects, said that the self-replicating worm has caused damages estimated to be in the region of £5.5 million, Reuters and Silicon.com report.

The UK arrests closely followed the execution of search warrants yesterday morning. A further search warrant was reportedly executed yesterday in Illinois, US, as part of the same investigation.

Last month, a 22-year-old, who admitted creating three computer viruses which infected 27,000 PCs in 42 countries, was sentenced at London's Southwark Crown Court to two years imprisonment under the UK's Computer Misuse Act 1990.

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