British publisher trade body ELSPA has sent an open letter to the UK Home Secretary, David Blunkett, expressing serious concerns over the recent media controversy related to Rockstar's Manhunt title. Media reports of a link between the game and a murder in Leicestershire earlier this year were compounded this week by comments from Keith Vaz MP, who also linked the game with the tragic events.

However, a new twist came in the case yesterday when Leicestershire Constabulary denied any link between the game and the murder, reiterating that the motive for the attack was robbery, and revealed that the game was found not in the perpetrator's bedroom, but in the victim's. A lawyer claiming to act for the victim's parents has since asserted that despite this, the game did belong to the killer.

News source: gamesindustry.biz

According to information received by the Kaspersky Virus Lab, Brador was probably written by a Russian virus coder. The Trojan was attached to an email with a Russian sender and Russian text inside. The author was offering to sell the client part for the Trojan to all interested parties, which means that there is a real chance that the backdoor may be bought by somebody who will use it commercially (bot network creation, for instance).

"PDA users face a real danger and we can be sure that the computer underground will snatch at the chance to attack PDAs and mobile phones in the nearest future," added Eugene Kaspersky, "malware development for mobiles is passing through the same stages as malware for desktops: we will probably see a serious outbreak of viruses for handhelds sometime soon."

Kaspersky Labs has already updated the antivirus databases with protection against Brador. A detailed description of Brador is available in the Kaspersky Virus Encyclopedia.


There are 3 additional comments
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(1 reply) Quote this comment Reply to this comment #1 Posted by Nose Nuggets on 05 Aug 2004 - 21:07
maybe im just blind but what the hell do they stand to proove even IF it was this crappy ass game that caused the one kid to kill the other? they end up banning manhunt in europe? F*** no!
Quote this comment #1.1 Posted by elliot on 05 Aug 2004 - 23:09
Maybe try reading their letter, and see that they aren't trying to ban it, rather denying any link between the two.
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #2 Posted by yert* on 05 Aug 2004 - 21:46
I just killed everyone in my neighborhood, but it was because I played Manhunt...
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