Nagano man held over attempted virus attack on Softbank firm

Asian Economic News, Feb 28, 2000

TOKYO, Feb. 23 Kyodo

Police have arrested a 19-year-old unemployed man on suspicion of e-mailing computer viruses to an affiliate of Softbank Corp., disrupting its operations, police said Wednesday.

The man, who cannot be identified under the Juvenile Law, allegedly e-mailed 659 files infected with viruses to Softbank Technology Corp. in Tokyo from his own personal computer in the village of Hara, Nagano Prefecture, early Nov. 16 last year.

The software trader temporarily halted business operations as its antivirus system shutdown the business system upon discovering the viruses, police said, adding the company has not reported any damage to business.

Police have seized a number of disks on which more than 10,000 kinds of viruses were recorded from the man's home.

The viruses would infect the receiver's computer if an e-mail