An analysis of the Sasser-F worm's code revealed that it is an offshoot of the original worm, Sasser-A, that does not include any of the changes or improvements to the worm introduced in previous variants, he said.
That would make sense, if the author released the Sasser source code with the initial worm, then made modifications to it himself, Hinojosa said.
"It makes sense that this is a variant of the (Sasser-A) source code. It's been out for more than a week and made the rounds of whatever computing underground (Jaschan) was connected to. Now somebody has had a chance to play with it," he said.
Hinojosa called the changes to Sasser-F "child-like." The changes include a switching the name of a process created by the worm to "Bill Gates," and the addition of new comments containing expletives, Hinojosa said.
The apparent release of the Sasser source code complicates the picture of who's responsible for Sasser. Once source code is available for a worm, it "lowers the bar" of technical knowledge needed to create a variant or a new worm, said Gerhard Eschelbeck, chief technology officer at Qualys Inc.
Only an investigation of Jaschan's computer will confirm what role he had in the creation of the Sasser worm and its variants, and whether he worked with others to create and distribute the worms, Hinojosa said.
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