Taiwan firm hires Chernobyl virus writer

The hacker who created the notorius Chernobyl virus has landed a job with a Taiwan technology firm.

Wahoo International Enterprise hired 24-year old Chen Ing-hau to work in its hardware testing division.

"Our chairman felt he was a rare computer professional and we decided to accept him with an open heart," said Wahoo spokeswoman Vivi Wang.

Chen's virus - also known as CIH - wipes out an infected computer's hard drive data every April 26, the anniversary of the 1986 Soviet nuclear disaster at Chernobyl, Ukraine.

The program took down hundreds of thousands of computers in South Korea, Turkey, China, India and elsewhere. Chen was arrested but was later released because no complaints were filed in Taiwan.

The story is available at www.news.com.