Worm spurs outbreak of media confusion
It is very interesting to correlate the first detection of Sasser.e with the arrest of the alleged creator. Both events seem to happen on the same day, but which came first? There is much diametrically opposed reporting on the detection and arrest: the coverage is quite a study in obfuscation.
Reuters reports it was a tip off snaring a lone coder, while Australian Sunday newspapers report "German police arrested two men over the Sasser, Agobot and Phatbot viruses", blurring the distinction between cases.
Some early reports claimed that CIA or other intelligence outfits were involved in finding the author. The ABC's early reports did not mention an MS bounty, only that FBI and CIA "helped police track down the suspect".
So is the timing question answered? Maybe: "Earlier Friday, investigators said, Jaschan unleashed the new "Sasser e" - earlier the same day he was arrested, apparently.
This report makes no mention of other people involved or arrested. But it gets more interesting. A report at ZDNET says "[ Microsoft ] ... refuted press reports that ... Sasser.E came out after the 18-year-old German resident was arrested. The suspected Sasser author apparently confessed to releasing a fifth version of the worm a week ago". Rednova says released same day, ZDNet says a week before.
Infoworld says "...it is possible that the teenager released the worm just before being captured, the close timing and clues from earlier Sasser variants may point to a larger network of virus writers...".
In the Infoworld peice a different MS spokesperson to the ZDNET article says that the 18 year old "released it almost simultaneously with his arrest". The Register is more precise: "Sasser-E was first spotted three hours and 45 minutes after the arrest...".
The arrest of the alleged creator of Agobot was a separate case and "didn't come from informants ... but from other, unspecified, leads". Also says "Other suspects were arrested in the Agobot case". This didn't stop press reports linking the cases however.
One could be forgiven now for wondering if ANY of the coverage of this case has ANY truth whatsoever. Every "fact" seems to be contradicted at every turn: It was a lone coder. It was a group. It was the FBI. It was informants. Microsoft was involved. Microsoft was not involved. Sasser.e came out after arrest. Sasser.e came out hours before arrest, or a week before arrest. Two were arrested for Agobot. One was arrested for Agobot. More will be arrested. No-one else was involved.
One could conclude that either someone has something major to hide over this, and the press seems to be helping to hide it, or the press are completely incompetent fantasists; that, I could accept in part, but it's unlikely to be the whole story.
A fine exemplar of disinformation, intentional or otherwise.
Item posted by AutoEditor at 12:15 pm ::
