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Dutch Man Who Hatched Anna Kournikova Virus Turns Himself In
LEEUWAARDEN, Netherlands, Feb 14 (News Agencies) - A 20-year-old Dutch man who admitted to launching the Anna Kournikova e-mail virus that wreaked havoc in millions of computers worldwide turned himself in to police on Wednesday.
"The young man came Wednesday to the Leeuwarden police station at 8:40 am (0740 GMT) and confirmed he was the creator of the Kournikova virus," police said in a statement.
Police in the northern Dutch town did not disclose the suspect's name, but said he had decided to turn himself in when he realized the extent of the damage caused by the computer bug.
The man said he had downloaded an existing Internet file, reconfigured it to include the virus and reloaded it onto the Internet through a news service website at about 3:00 pm Sunday, according to police.
Police said they had taken a statement from him but that the man was subsequently released.
An investigating magistrate will now decide whether to charge the man, police spokesman Harry Oenema said.
If convicted of damaging computer programs and property, he would face a maximum of four years in prison.
Oenema also said police had seized all the man's computer equipment "for the needs of the inquiry and to see if he had prepared to send other viruses."
The virus, detected so far in the United States, Europe, Australia and several Asian countries, comes in an e-mail named "Annakournikova" purporting to include a picture of the 19-year-old Russian professional tennis star.
According to computer security experts, the virus does not damage individual computers but replicates itself through Microsoft's Outlook e-mail program, creating the potential to crash e-mail servers.
A spokeswoman at ExciteAtHome, an Internet tracking company based in California, said Tuesday that it believed the virus may have been hatched in the Netherlands.
According to the online news site CNet, the perpetrator could have used a common virus writing tool called "Ubs Worm Generator" to create the Kournikova bug.
Someone claiming to be the Kournikova virus author posted a message on a member site of the Dutch web site tripodnet.nl.
"I admit writing the virus," said someone using the alias of OntheFly, who said Kournikova's likeness was used "just because I am a big fan of her. She deserves some attention, doesn't she??"
Fears of a repeat of the widespread chaos caused by last year's "I Love You" bug have proven unfounded.
The Love Bug virus, which started last May in the Philippines, penetrated around 45 million computers worldwide, including those at the Pentagon, the British Parliament and the CIA, and caused millions of dollars in damage.
Security experts say users can guard themselves against such viruses by not opening e-mail from strangers, especially those containing attachments.
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