14 DAY TRIAL // Japanese authorities generally do a decent job when it comes to identifying cybercriminals, but there’s one that has been sending them on a wild-goose chase for quite some time.
It all started back in October 2012, when security researchers reported discovering a piece of malware – dubbed the “remote control virus” – that had been making threats on various websites on behalf of the individuals whose computers it infected.
Japanese police even arrested a number of individuals and got them to confess their crimes, only to realize that they had made a big mistake.
In mid-December, for the first time ever, authorities offered a 3 million yen ($36,000 or 28,000 EUR) bounty for anyone that could help them track down the creator of the virus – an individual skilled in C# who used the “Syberian Post Office” method to anonymously publish messages on the Internet.
However, the story is far from being over. On New Year’s Day, the hacker sent out riddle emails to various news outlets from Japan, promising them a “big scoop” if they played a “new game,” Wired reports.
The game involved a number of quizzes that ultimately led to finding a cat living on an island near Tokyo.
A memory card said to be containing the details of the remote control virus were allegedly strapped to the cat’s collar.
Malware creators usually go to great lengths to make sure that their identities remain a mystery. They’re generally very suspicious and when they feel that the police might be onto them, they pull their creations from public markets.
However, in this case, the malware developer appears to be very confident in his ability to remain hidden, despite the fact that there’s a considerable reward on his head.