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Scot held by police in computer virus probe(Daily Mail Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) A SCOT has been arrested in connection with a virus that infected thousands of computers worldwide. Matthew Anderson, 28, was picked up by police on Tuesday as part of a probe into the email scam. It is understood the inquiry centres on a conspiracy to infect computers by creating Trojan horse viruses attached to emails. Anderson, of Drummuir, near Keith in Banffshire, appeared at Elgin Sheriff Court last year accused of using a virus to bring down two websites. The case was abandoned two weeks later. Police confirmed three men had been arrested as part of an international operation and that a 28-yearold Scot was due to return to London for questioning in October. A 63-year-old Suffolk man and a 19-year-old male from Finland were also arrested as part of the inquiry run by the Metropolitan Police and Finnish officers. A Met spokesman said the British men had been bailed but the Finn was in custody. He added: 'The group is suspected of writing new computer viruses to avoid detection by anti-virus products. 'They have primarily been targeting UK businesses since at least 2005, but thousands of computers are known to have been infected across the globe.' The viruses, attached to 'spam' emails, run in the background of programmes without the owner's knowledge. Once installed, the viruses give criminals access to private information on the computer. |