Philippine police said on Tuesday some 10 people with links to a Manila
computer school are suspected to have created the devastating “Love Bug”
virus that penetrated millions of computers worldwide last week.
A Filipino couple named on Monday as the main suspects in the case have
attended the AMA Computer College (AMACC), owned by the former head of the
government’s programme to combat the Y2K bug, they said. Elfren Meneses of the
Philippine National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) told reporters some 10 coded
names were found embedded in the virus.
“There were reports from the FBI (the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation)
that the names are somewhat from an organisation called AMACC,” he said,
adding that the college promised to help in investigations. AMACC said in a
press statement on Monday it was aware of reports that some people with links
to it were accused of creating the “Love Bug,” and it did not condone
hacking.
“The AMACC reaffirms its commitment to cooperate with all investigating
bodies and shall make available its resources to assist in the efforts,” it
said.
Reomel Ramones, a 27-year-old man, is the only one arrested in the case so
far. His girlfriend Irene de Guzman was also named by the NBI as a suspect
after their dilapidated Manila flat was searched by detectives on Monday. De
Guzman told the NBI she would turn herself in for questioning but had not
yet done so, Meneses said.
Ramones, who was held overnight, has had access to lawyers and charges
against him may be filed later in the day, the NBI officer said. NBI chief
Federico Opinion said all suspects in the case would be subjected
to questioning. “As some said, they might have been just playing around but we
will know that because they will be subjected to tactical interrogation
later,” he told the DZMM radio station.
Opinion also said that although no computer was found in a search of the
flat where Ramones and de Guzman stayed, there was evidence one had been
kept there and then removed. “There were no computers retrieved but there were
indications of equipment taken out, there were computer parts,” he said.
The NBI had kept the flat under surveillance since Saturday, soon after it
was informed by local Internet service providers and overseas authorities
that the computer virus was suspected to have originated there. But it could
not move because computer hacking is not a crime under Philippine law and it
could not procure a search warrant until Monday.
Damage from the “Love Bug” virus and variants has already reached about $5
billion and could amount to $10 billion before the viruses could be
eradicated, the U.S. firm Computer Economics said. The original virus, tagged
“ILOVEYOU,” works by enticing e-mail recipients to open an attached letter,
only to cripple their e-mail systems.
Upon opening the attachment using Microsoft software such as the Outlook
programme, it sends a copy of the virus to everyone in the user’s address
book and seeks to destroy a variety of files throughout a computer network,
including picture and music files.
The latest variants on the virus include tainted messages with subject lines
such as Dangerous Virus Warning; Virus ALERT; How To Protect Yourself From
The ILOVEYOU Bug; and Thank You For Flying With Arab Airlines.
