Fluffi Bunni worked for Siemens

A man reputed to be the leader of an international hacking ring worked in the U.K. offices of Siemens Communications, according to a statement released by the company.

Lynn Htun was arrested April 29 by U.K. Metropolitan Police when they recognized him on a stand at the InfoSec computer security show in London after he failed to appear in Guildford Crown Court, in Guildford, England, on forgery charges, according to a U.K. Metropolitan Police spokesman.

Siemens said that although Htun was arrested on a charge unrelated to computer hacking, the U.K. authorities told the company they are conducting "further investigations into the activities of Mr Htun." Police in Surrey, where the forgery charge originated, did not immediately respond to questions.

The Fluffi Bunni hacking group is credited with a series of attacks against the Web sites of U.S. computer security organizations between 2000 and 2002, said Jan Andresen, spokesman for digital security company Mi2g Ltd. of London.

Those organizations included www.attrition.org and the Web site for The SANS Institute, Andresen said.

After compromising sites, the group left a picture of a stuffed pink rabbit as its calling card.

Siemens Communications, part of Siemens AG, supplies a variety of technology services including network outsourcing. Htun was representing the company at the InfoSec show, said Anne Keogh, a spokeswoman at Siemens.

Htun worked for the company for the past nine months as a support technician and had access to "a small number" of customer accounts, Keogh said.

Siemens could not say whether Htun's job involved on-site work at those companies, but said that Siemens had reviewed both its own and its customers' systems that Htun had access to without finding evidence of tampering, Keogh said.

In addition, the company has "reinforced" its information technology systems as well as the "security of customer infrastructure," the Siemens statement said.

Siemens suspended Htun with full pay and has withdrawn his access to Siemens systems, information and facilities pending the result of the police investigation, Siemens said.

The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.