Worm mocks convicted Sasser author

A new virus mocking the creator of the Sasser worm is spreading across the net. The Lebreat-D worm drops an image of recently convicted virus writer Sven Jaschan onto user's hard drives with the phrase "Bitch" superimposed on an image of the German teenager's face.

Concealed inside the Lebreat-D worm's code is a lengthy diatribe from its author criticising anti-virus vendors. The message (extract below) goes on to scoff at the risk that its author might be investigated by the police.

Netsky(SkyShit),Beagle or Bagle,Mydoom and Sasser bye bye bitchs. It will be my game cuz the fbi or police are not searching for me to arrest me like ya sasser loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooool (next variants will use a better engine to send thousands of copies to users.) :P

Lebreat-D can spread either via infected email attachments or Windows security vulnerabilities (including LSASS (MS04-011) the same security bug exploited by Sasser). The worm opens a backdoor on infected Windows PCs through which hackers can exploit compromised computers. Once activated the worm is programmed to activate denial of service attacks on websites run by anti-virus heavyweights Symantec and McAfee. It is also designed to block users from accessing a list of anti-virus websites, a common tactic by virus writers designed to frustrate clean-up efforts.

"The author of Lebreat has written a lengthy diatribe inside his virus, attacking other worms, security companies, and threatening that future versions of his worm will infect more people. He or she also seems to have little sympathy for his fellow virus writer Sven Jaschan, who was found guilty by a German court," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at anti-virus firm Sophos. "Unfortunately childish squabbles like this are being fought on the computers of innocent computer users, uninterested in fights in the virus underground."

Jaschan was sentenced to one year and nine months on probation and 30 hours community service by a German court earlier this month after he was convicted of computer sabotage offences. Sophos reckons Jaschan was responsible for more than 55 per cent of the viruses reported it last year, thanks to his role in creating both the Sasser and NetSky worms.

It's not the first time Jaschan has been the subject of coded criticism by rival VXers. versions of the Bagle worm (e.g. Bagle-J) released in March 2004 made derogatory comments about the then unknown creator of NetSky within their virus code. The remarks were made in the context of cyberbattle between the authors of the NetSky and Bagle worms over control of vulnerable Windows PCs that created a virus writing arms race that saw the release of numerous viral variants in Spring 2004. ®

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