Second Man Arrested in Blaster Attacks

Police said they arrested a 24-year-old Romanian man suspected of releasing a new version of the Blaster Internet worm, the second arrest of an alleged copycat virus writer in the last week.

Meanwhile, the culprit behind the original Blaster remains at large. The original worm, which also goes by the name “LovSan,” surfaced last month, infecting hundreds of thousands of computers running Microsoft Corp.’s Windows software. Authorities identified the author of the latest worm strain as Dan Dumitru Ciobanu from the northern Romanian city of Iasi.

Separately, Microsoft reported five new security flaws in its software, including one of “critical” severity that affects nearly all programs in its Office suite of software. The critical vulnerability could allow an attacker to read files on a victim’s computer, run programs or otherwise seize control.

From Times wire services