In a story that could be lifted direct from a Hollywood script, a Japanese hacker placed a memory card on the collar of a stray cat found wandering on an island near Tokyo.
The police were then given riddles to solve in order to find the cat. The memory card contained information about the" iesys.exe" virus that the hacker has been using to send out emails from remote locations.
According to reports in Wired it was another twist in a series of stunts that the hacker, who has yet to be caught, has used to taunt police and authorities for months.
The Japanese National Police Agency has offered a reward of ¥3m ($34,000) for any information that leads them to the hacker who has been sending emails containing bomb threats against schools across Japan. So far no-one has come forward and the hacker seems to able to toy with the authorities, as the latest cat episode demonstrated.
News outlets in Japan were also contacted on New Year's Day with "an invitation to a new game", one that would lead to the "chance for a big scoop" according to Wired.
The hacker's motive, aside from international notoriety and police embarrassment, remains a mystery as does his or her whereabouts.
