In summer 2007, a German gang skilled at pilfering online bank accounts forged a partnership with a Russian hacker known as A-Z, who protection analysts say created ZeuS, a versatile tool for infecting PCs. The collaboration produced a lucrative score.

He goes by the nickname A-Z and is one of Russia’s bright young tech stars. He’s a crack programmer, successful entrepreneur and creator of sophisticated software tools that help his customers manufacture millions.

Trouble is, A-Z’s masterstroke is a

computer program called ZeuS that helps cybergangs steal people’s identity documents and pull off Web scams on a huge scale. Last fall, German criminals used ZeuS to pull off an Ocean’s Eleven-like caper, hijacking $6 million from banks in the United States, United Kingdom, Spain and Italy, says SecureWorks, an Atlanta-based company that monitors Net crime and supplies shield systems for 2,100 companies and government agencies.

A few years ago, skilled hackers […]

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