Firm: Chinese cybercops nailing virus writers
Police forces fighting virtual crime could learn from China, says security firm Kaspersky Labs.
The Chinese antivirus police team will visit the Kaspersky Labs offices in Moscow next week to discuss virus development, the Russian antivirus company said Thursday.
"China has worked effectively in fighting virus writers," said Natalya Kaspersky, chief executive of Kaspersky Labs. "They are much more active than anyone. They have special antivirus police that cooperates with industry. They want to learn more, and I think that's a good practice. They regularly hire people and really seem to care about viruses."
She said that law enforcement agencies dedicated to fighting high-tech crime in other countries are failing to perform as well as the Chinese force in hunting virus writers.
"European police have realized the problem, but don't know what to do about it, because it's a virtual problem," she said. "They need to change. I think they have a lot of work to do."
Kaspersky said she wanted her company to work more closely with government and police forces around the world.
"We are very proud that we caught one virus writer," she said. "But the sentence was something like (a fine of) $300. It was the first case of its kind. The problem for us is that in Russian law, you have to prove the damage someone has done. How could you find a witness to prove someone started an attack?"
Dan Ilett of London-based ZDNet UK reported from Moscow.