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Japanese Cops Collar Malware-Carrying Cat

Posted by Soulskill on from the adorable-security-threats dept.

Orome1 writes "When imagining law enforcement officers investigating and searching for cyber criminals or evidence about their activities, the last thing that you can probably envision is them searching for a stray cat. But that was exactly what detectives of Japan's National Police Agency recently did as the last step in a complex 'treasure hunt' started on New Year's Day by a person (persons?) who is allegedly the mastermind behind the so-called 'Remote Control Virus.' The malware in question was instrumental in staging a continuous campaign of death and bomb threats sent to airline companies, kindergartens, schools, law offices, broadcasting networks and shrines."

3 of 83 comments (clear)

  1. The real crime... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Having read the article it seems the real crime to be investigated here would come from:

    In a particularly embarrassing episode of the investigation, the Japanese police arrested four of those unsuspecting individuals and extracted "confessions" from them, only for other institutions to receive threats containing details that only the real criminal behind the scheme would know - while the four were in custody.

    1. Re:The real crime... by TheCarp · · Score: 4, Interesting

      But its ok.... every other confession they have gotten was totally legit, as will the next ones.

      I have seen claims that standard LEO questioning techniques have been found to be able to extract confessions in up to 90% of cases, totally independentally of the persons innocence or guilt.

      Yet, confessions continue to be held up as meaning something.

      --
      "I opened my eyes, and everything went dark again"
  2. Re:This is why you DON"T TALK TO POLICE by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Interesting

    Does it matter if you're basking in the glow of your own smug superiority at the time?

    If a kid goes missing in your neighbourhood, and you saw some guy cruising around the playground earlier, are you still going to refuse to talk to the cops on a matter of principle? How would you feel if it was your kid, and some self-righteous prick didn't talk?