May 10 2004
German authorities have reportedly arrested two persons accused of writing and releasing malicious code. The two were arrested on May 7, 2004 and are alleged to be the authors of the Sasser Internet worm and Agobot (a.k.a. Phatbot and Gaobot). Text in the Netsky.AC worm code indicates that the author of Sasser may also be the author of Netsky. Netsky.AC contained hidden text that read, "Hey, av firms, do you know that we have programmed the sasser virus?!?. Yeah thats true! Why do you have named it sasser? A Tip: Compare the FTP-Server code with the one from Skynet.V!!! LooL! We are the Skynet".
The Sasser Internet worm was first discovered on May 1, 2004; Sasser.E, was discovered only hours after the alleged author's arrest and did not contain any direct reference to Skynet but did attempt to remove certain Bagle variants, a tactic reminiscent of the Netsky worms.
Next: War-waging worms
