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TAIPEI, Taiwan, April 30th
The author of the Chernobyl computer virus told investigators that he created the bug hoping to humiliate and take revenge on what he called incompetent antivirus software providers, police said today. But he admitted he didn't expect it to cause worldwide damage, a police statement said. Police added that a lack of any local plaintiffs made it difficult to charge him.
“HE’S NOT A CRIMINAL here as long as no one registers a complaint,” a Taipei police spokeswoman said. “All we know about problems with the virus is what we’ve seen in foreign news reports.” Chen was questioned on suspicion of intentionally spreading a computer virus, a crime that carries a possible three-year prison term, and could be charged if victims come forth.
A bashful Chen, in brief comments after he was released, expressed remorse and offered to help victims remove the virus from their computers. The Chernobyl virus — known in Taiwan as the CIH, for Chen’s initials — had even pressed the Chinese People’s Liberation Army to study antivirus programs to prevent it from invading its computers, the police statement said.
Chen created the virus last April when he was still a student of computer engineering at the Institute of Technology. Chen has since graduated and has been undergoing Taiwan’s mandatory two-year military service. Chen had spent long hours playing computer games since entering college and was a frequent victim of computer viruses when downloading video games and other software from the Internet, the police statement said. “He said he created the highly vicious virus that could avoid detection by available antivirus programs in order to make a fool of the software providers, from whom he had bought antivirus programs that proved useless,” the statement said. “He did not expect the virus to cause such a great impact. He regretted his deeds and apologize to all its victims.”
The unusually destructive virus — timed to strike on April 26, the 13th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster — tries to erase a computer’s hard drive and write gibberish into its system settings to prevent the machine from being restarted. Computer experts said Chen might never be charged because he did not intend to spread the virus. But they said Chen might face lawsuits seeking millions of dollars of damage compensation.