Last week the web site for Computerworld, published by IDG, splashed on an exclusive that claimed a radical Islamic group was behind the Slammer worm which caused havoc on the internet in late January.
The writer of the story, Dan Verton, based his piece on an email interview with a man claiming to be Abu Mujahid, a member of a Pakistan-based group called Harkat-ul-Mujahadeen.
He claimed the computer virus was part of a strategy to cause fear and uncertainty throughout the world, via the web.
However, the man turned out to be Brian McWilliams, a freelancer who writes for Salon.com and Wired News.
McWilliams said he wanted to teach reporters to be more sceptical of people who claim to be involved in cyber terrorism.
Computerworld removed the story from its site the same day it was published and replaced it with a statement claiming it was taken down because of questions about its authenticity. However, it had already been advertised to 200,000 daily email recipients.
It then published another story by Mr Verton under the headline 'Journalist perpetrates online terror hoax' .
"This isn't the first time Mr McWilliams has relied on questionable reporting procedures to obtain information," said the second story. "According to government intelligence and industry sources... McWilliams obtained the telephone number for conference calls held by the National Security Council, the National Security Agency and private companies, and listened in surreptitiously to the conversations. He then used the information from the conference calls in news reports he filed."
Mr Verton added: "Although the hoax this week taught me a valuable lesson about the nature of information on the Internet, it's less clear whether Mr McWilliams' scheme has done anything to advance the understanding of cyber terrorism - one of his stated reasons for conducting the hoax in the first place.
"The fact is that real terrorist organisations around the world do run web sites. The Palestinian terrorist group Hamas is a prime example."
Sources:
http://www.brianmcwilliams.com/why.html
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/02/07/1044498960818.html
http://www.idg.net/ic_1143263_9677_1-5046.html
http://digitalmass.boston.com/news/2003/02/07/duped.html
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