A software technician was arrested yesterday on charges of allegedly having a written a "Trojan horse" program -- a malicious computer program that masquerades as a harmless one -- that caused damage to computer systems at the Presidential Office, the Ministry of National Defense and more than 200 private firms last month.
The National Police Administration's Internet Crime Investigation Squad identified the suspect as Pingtung native Wang Ping-an (
After being arrested at his Kaohsiung residence, Wang allegedly told police that he had tried to sell the "Trojan horse" program on the Internet last month and that a Chinese hacker had e-mailed him to say that he was interested in the program. The Chinese hacker allegedly offered to trade other computer programs for the program that Wang had created.
Wang allegedly told police that it never occurred to him that Chinese intelligence officials might take advantage of his work to harm Taiwan's computer systems or endanger its national security.
Law enforcement officers are investigating whether Wang has worked with Chinese authorities on other hacking projects, has implanted the program on computer systems related to national security or has stolen classified information.
"He told us that he created the program because he has nothing to do after work because he does not have a girlfriend. So he decided to spend his time on computers instead," said Eric Lee (
"The program he created implants a `back door' and a virus on computer systems, allowing hackers to steal data from a system whenever they want to," Lee said.
Lee said that Wang has been called "the glory of Taiwanese hackers" on the Internet because he allegedly taught Chinese hackers how to hack Taiwanese computer systems.
According to police, Lee does not have a degree from a famous college or university.
"He only earned an associate degree from a junior college. Everything he did was the result of self-study," Lee said.
"However, the program he created is very powerful. It can avoid detection by firewalls and anti-virus programs," Lee said.
Lee said that police are worried that Wang's program might have fallen into the hands of fraudsters. If it has, credit cards, check cards and health insurance cards will become very vulnerable.
According to Lee, software that protects against the "Trojan horse" can be downloaded from the Web site of the Criminal Investigation Bureau.
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