Romanian charged with releasing Internet worm

Romania: A 24-year-old Romanian man, accused of unleashing an Internet worm called Blaster

Romania: A 24-year-old Romanian man, accused of unleashing an Internet worm called Blaster.F, has been charged with cybercrime offences carrying up to 15 years in prison.

Police said Mr Dan Dumitru Ciobanu had admitted spreading the virus, a low-grade variant of the highly damaging Blaster worm, but had told investigators it was an accident.

His arrest followed that of an American teenager accused of creating another Blaster strain.

Romania's tough new cybercrime law, which covers online fraud, hacking and virus-writing, carries a sentence of three to 15 years, more than twice the maximum sentence for rape.

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"He has been charged with illegal and major disturbing of informatics systems and for holding illegal software," Mr Liviu Zamfirescu, a police officer from the suspect's home city of Iasi, said.

A police statement said Mr Ciobanu admitted releasing the virus on to the Web when he tested it on his computer while online.

Mr Ciobanu is not in custody, and no date has been set for his trial.

The original Blaster worm, considered one of the most damaging virus outbreaks ever, surfaced last month. It implanted itself on over half a million PCs that run the latest versions of the Microsoft Windows operating system.

- (Reuters)