Man nabbed for ‘revenge’ virus attack

UTSUNOMIYA – A 44-year-old man from Okayama Prefecture has been arrested on suspicion of sending a computer virus to a server hosting a Web site he had been partially restricted from using, causing the site to crash, police said Wednesday.

It was the first time an arrest has been made for the creation and transmission of a computer virus since the Penal Code was beefed up in July.

Takashi Tomiyama apparently sent a computer virus he created on his home PC to a server hosting a Web site owned and operated by a 38-year-old man in Tochigi Prefecture on Aug. 26, rendering the site’s online chat service unusable, they said.

When users attempted to access the chat service screen on the site, the virus caused browser windows to rapidly pop up one after another, potentially causing the browser to crash and overwhelming the PC.

According to the Tochigi prefectural police, Tomiyama, who was tracked down through his IP address and other data, said during questioning he had been blocked from posting messages on the chat site by the site’s operator. He then created the virus to attack the site.

The revised Penal Code defines a computer virus as an “electromagnetic record that would make a computer function against a computer user’s will.” Creating a virus without a legitimate reason or distributing it over the Internet is punishable by a maximum three years in prison or a maximum fine of 500,000 yen.

There are also laws restricting the acquisition and storage of such records under the code.

In July, a man from Gifu Prefecture was arrested on suspicion of storing a virus on his computer at home without a legitimate reason.

Article source: http://www.asiaone.com/News/Latest+News/Asia/Story/A1Story20111103-308442.html

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