[photopress:panda.jpg,full,alignright]First, Li Jun, maker of the notorious computer virus Xiongmao Shaoxiang, or Panda burning joss stick has been arrested with the approval of Xiantao City procuratorate in central China’s Hubei Province. On February 12 he had been detained by the police during inquiries.
The virus, which infects program files and flashes a picture of a panda holding three joss sticks, has been spreading through the Internet since December last year. It has infected millions of computers.
Li will be charged with seven others. An anti-virus program written by Li has been released on the Internet.
Now a virus called Hack.Huigezi or Grey Pigeon has been pushed out and, according to Kingsoft, a Beijing-based anti-virus firm, its potential damage may be ten times worse.
Lei Jun, Kingsoft’s president, said, ‘It is difficult for a firewall to detect it – it continues to steal valuable information and some victims don’t know it for as long as several years.’
This latest worm can be downloaded online, and some hackers even publish the virus-creation guide online, such as on Baidu’s forum, according to anti-virus firms Beijing Jiangmin and Rising.
Experts suggest computer users should update anti-virus programs to the latest versions.
Further bad news. A computer virus, almost identical to the Panda burning joss stickshas returned to haunt Chinese Internet users, according to a Chinese anti-virus software company.
Experts with the Beijing-based Jiangmin New Tech said the new virus, known as ‘Shadow of Panda’, is ‘like a twin brother’ to the virus ‘Panda burning joss sticks’, one of the worst to hit China.
The maker of the new ‘Shadow of Panda’ has written a line in his virus code, saying, ‘I despise the commercialized anti-virus companies. The panda is gone, so is creator Li Jun, but I will carry on his unfinished task. I will devote myself selflessly to improving the safety awareness of Chinese netizens.’
The Jiangmin company said anti-virus experts had found solutions to deal with the new virus and asked netizens to download upgraded anti-virus software as soon as possible.
Sources: Source: China Daily and Shanghai Daily and China View