A notorious young Chinese hacker and his three accomplices, who inflicted heavy damage to millions of computer users in the country, appeared in a court in China.
The trial of the author of the notorious computer virus Xiongmao Shaoxiang, or Panda burning joss stick, that crippled millions of computers nationwide began in the People’s Court of Xiantao City in central China’s Hubei Province.
Li Jun, 25, and three others all in their twenties, stand accused of writing the virus, spreading it through the Internet and causing huge damage to millions of computer users from November 2006 to March 2007.
Police say that the four defendants raked in more than USD 27,000 by selling the virus, which infects program files and flashes up an image of a panda holding three joss sticks, and can also steal the account names and passwords of online game players and popular chat sites.
The virus was listed as the worst computer virus last year by a leading anti-virus company in China. After being arrested, Li wrote a programme that could remove the virus earlier this year.
Meanwhile, according to media reports, some Western governments have said that their computer system were attacked by Chinese hackers, backed by the military.
But a Chinese military researcher, Wang Xinjun with the Academy of Military Sciences denied such allegation.
“It’s very strange and surprising that only one or two websites of attacks are from China among the thousands hackers’ websites, some officials and media arbitrarily blame these attacks on China,” he was quoted as saying by Xinhua news agency.