From: InfoSec News (isnC4I.ORG)
Date: Sun Apr 01 2001 - 20:23:51 CDT

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http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,42741,00.html

by Michelle Delio
7:00 a.m. Mar. 30, 2001 PST

Security experts now have one less threat to contend with. The virus
writer who calls himself [K], and who created an easy-to-use virus
creation kit that spawned the Anna Kournikova worm in February, has
removed the kit from both of his websites.

[K] was unavailable for comment, but a source close to him said that
[K] felt that people were using his VBS Worm Generator in ways he had
not intended, and he was "very concerned that someone would do
something very stupid and he would be involved in the mess."

[K]'s Virii Argentina site -- which bills itself as the "biggest virii
site on the Net" -- has a banner that says "No more Vbswg to anybody,
it's [K]'s decision."

His personal site has displayed the message "Site Removed" since
Thursday.

Pointers to the various versions of the VBS Worm Generator kit remain
on the Virii site, but the links are dead.

Anthony Montez, a lawyer with offices in Manhattan who has practiced
in South America, said that although under Argentinean law it would be
hard to prosecute [K] for any problems caused by a worm created with
VBS Worm Generator, it would not be unheard of for local police to pay
a visit and suggest the kit be removed from [K]'s websites.

"As I understand the situation, local law enforcement would not have a
hard time finding this young man, and a call from police in the United
States might be enough for them to decide that they would prefer the
kit not be available on Argentinean websites."

The source refused to confirm whether [K] had been issued an official
warning to remove the kit from his site, but stressed that the
decision was [K]'s and added that [K] had been unhappy about people
using the kit to release worms into the wild.

"He really made the kit as a way for people to study viruses, and he
doesn't like all the attention it's been getting ever since the Anna
K. virus," the source says.

VBS Worm Generator featured a simple point-and-click interface that
allowed even the most non-technical person to create and e-mail a
virus.

[K] did not respond to e-mails requesting comment.

The source said copies of VBS Worm Generator -- including a much more
virulent version that [K] posted two weeks ago -- are still on the
Net, but are hard to locate.

"Some people are going crazy trying to find it," the source said.
"They are all over IRC (Internet relay chat) requesting that anyone
who has a copy of the kit to please e-mail it to them."

"VBS Worm Generator has become a hot item. I've heard people even want
to start charging for copies. It's becoming a collector's item, like
it's some fancy bottle of wine."

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