In August, a destructive computer worm known as Zotob attacked users of the Windows 2000 operating system. It infected computers worldwide, including those at broadcasting giants ABC News and CNN. Within two weeks, law enforcement authorities in Turkey and Morocco — acting on information provided by the Federal Bureau of Investigation with Microsoft Corp.’s help — arrested Farid Essebar, 18, of Morocco and Atilla Ekici, 21, of Turkey — two individuals suspected of distributing the malicious program.
The Zotob case is remarkable not only because of the short time between the program’s release and the arrests, but because it illustrates the increasingly important role that public-private partnerships are playing in the battle against cybercrime.
