Israeli Youths Confess to Writing 'Goner' Internet Worm

[Howell, Paul]

At http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,40427,00.html

Israeli Youths Confess to Writing 'Goner' Internet Worm 
 
Saturday, December 08, 2001
JERUSALEM - Four Israeli teens confessed Saturday to writing and spreading
the "Goner" computer worm that attacked computers worldwide this month,
according to police. 


The teens, ages 15 and 16, are high school students in the northern city of
Nahariya, said Meir Zohar, head of the police computer crime squad.

One of the teens confessed to writing the worm and the other youths
confessed to spreading it, Zohar said. All four are in custody and could
face between three and five years in jail if convicted. 

The Goner worm looks like an e-mail from a friend, with a subject line of
"Hi," Symantec security response group manager Kevin Haley said. 

"The text will say 'How are you? I saw this screensaver and immediately
thought of you.' That's a giveaway," Haley said. 

The Goner worm is a hybrid of a traditional computer virus and a hacking
attack. It spreads by going through a computer's e-mail address books and
sending copies of itself out, and by using instant-messaging services like
ICQ to send additional copies. Once inside a user's system, it deletes
anti-virus and firewall programs, then installs scripts to allow hackers to
access the computer and use it as a platform for denial-of-service attacks.

Israeli police have been investigating the case for about a week, Zohar
said.  

The worm first appeared early this month, infecting computers in France and
Germany.