Police in Romania on Wednesday arrested a 24-year-old man in connection with a computer-crippling Internet worm, according to a computer security company that aided police.

The company, Bucharest-based BitDefender, identified the man as Dan Dumitru Ciobanu, a 24-year-old graduate of the Technical University of Iasi, in northeastern Romania.

Police detained Ciobanu in connection with a modified and milder version of the Blaster worm, said Patrick Vicol, a virus analyst at BitDefender. Dubbed MsBlast.F, it was unleashed on computers of the Technical University, Vicol said.

Last week, Minneapolis high school senior Jeffrey Parson, 18, was charged with letting loose a different variation of the Blaster worm.

Authorities said Parson admitted during an interview with FBI and Secret Service agents that he tinkered with the original “Blaster” infection that made computers attack the Microsoft Web site last month. Prosecutors said Parson’s worm affected at least 7,000 computers.

Company analysts traced Ciobanu through some Romanian-language text inside the virus that eventually led them to a Web page containing Ciobanu’s home address and telephone number, Vicol said.

“We tracked him using the bulletin boards. He actually gave his name — not a very smart thing to do,” Vicol said in a telephone interview.