A man who hacked into 100,000 computers to launch group attacks has been arrested in Tangshan, north China's Hebei Province, according to the Ministry of Public Security Friday.

The ministry's Public Information and Internet Security Supervision Bureau determined that many attacks came from a large group of computers embedded with virus programs. These computers were maneuvered by one hacker via several servers both at home and abroad.

More than 60,000 of the 100,000 computers were within China, and some of them were owned by government departments and other important sectors, said an official with the bureau.

They formed a so-called "corpse network," an attack tool popular among Internet hackers, which can prevent other computers from regular Internet service or send out mass junk e-mails on the hacker's orders, the official said.

A hacker could also steal and use users' information stored in the computers, the official said, but didn't disclose the name of the arrested suspect.

The number of crimes taking advantage of network technologies is climbing in China. Online pornography, gambling and fraud are focal points in the country's extensive crackdowns.

The official pointed out that China should speed up legislation on Internet crimes, including enacting laws to standardize identification of network data, evidence collection and investigation.

(Xinhua News Agency March 26, 2005)