hankyoreh

AhnLab, Korea's foremost anti-virus software developer, is worried not over a new virus, but because of the plight of a young computer expert with whom the firm had made acquaintance.

The young boy with a shaved head first became known to AhnLab when he visited a lecture program they sponsored on January 25. He told participants he was an 18-year-old high school student from Suncheon, South Jeolla Province, and AhnLab workers running the seminar were impressed by his excellent computer knowledge.

Upon returning to his hometown after the lecture, he began to offer advice online for AhnLab under the ID "scaniacool." Soon, he became well-known in the Internet community for his expert knowledge of how to avoid and clean computer viruses. As a result, scaniacool was selected by AhnLab as "security master of the month" for four consecutive months from January to April.

But "Scaniacool" disappeared from the Internet around the middle of April, and was not heard from for several weeks. One day in mid-May, AhnLab received a letter from him.

"Have you worried about me? I am in a Suncheon jail. Please send me some books; computer security-related books will be better for me." At the end of the four-page letter, he wrote, "Those who were so close with me in the society are turning their back on me, as I am behind bars. Please help me."

As it turns out, scaniacool, who used his skills to prevent thieves and virus-makers from harming Internet users, had turned to crime outside of the cyber world. He was arrested and indicted last month for stealing four motorcycles. This was his second time in prison after committing robbery three years ago.

Na Jong-hwa, the policeman at Gwangyang Police Station in South Jeolla Province who caught him, said, "I didn't know he had skills in computer security. It seemed that he couldn't display his talents because of his family circumstances. He didn't receive a proper education."

Scaniacool's family is within Korea's lowest income bracket; his father is a handyman and his mother suffers from a chronic illness. Before his arrest, his five-year-old computer had broken and he could not afford another one, even used. He only could continue to study computer security by working in a PC room.

After reading his letter, some at AhnLab suggested the company keep its distance from Scaniacool; as the nation's leading company in computer security, advocating morality and service for the public interest, it would be burdensome to maintain a relationship with him, they said

AhnLab, however, has decided to lay its hope on the young man, as it used to trust him. The institute sent a few books to him in May. Lee Byeong-cheol, an official at AhnLab, is going to visit him in prison. Lee said, "As far as we remember, he is a boy who used to say that he would become a second Ahn Chul-soo," referring to the founder AhnLab and a kind of pioneer in the field of computer security in Korea. "I believe he will finally return to the skaniacool he used to be before turning to a life of crime."



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