Beijing - A Chinese computer programmer who was arrested for creating and spreading a virus known as panda burns joss-sticks has written software to kill the worm-style bug, state media said on Wednesday.
Police in the central province of Hubei said they would publish the software free of charge on a government website after 25-year-old Li Jun confessed to creating and selling the virus, which infected about one million computers in China, the Shanghai Daily newspaper said.
Police in different areas of China arrested seven other people suspected of spreading the virus, after Li sold it to 120 people for a total of more than 100,000 yuan (13,000 dollars).
The arrests over the virus known as Xiongmao Shaoxiang (Panda burns joss-sticks), because it displays a series of cartoon pandas as it steals passwords and deletes data, are the first criminal cases involving a computer virus in China.
Li said he developed the virus because he was unable to find a job after finishing a training course in computing.
"I wanted to find a job in an Internet security company, but I failed every time," the newspaper quoted him as telling police.
The main icon of the virus is a panda holding three joss-sticks in the style of a traditional incense offering at Chinese Buddhist and Taoist temples.
