Microsoft offers $250,000 reward for virus arrests

by Jennifer Whitehead,, Brand Republic 07-Nov-03, 08:00

LONDON - Microsoft has announced that it will offer $250,000 in reward money to people who provide information leading to the arrest of people responsible for releasing email viruses.

The company announced the reward as part of a $5m (£3m) fund to fight viruses on the internet. It said that anyone from any country was eligible for the bounty, because viruses affected the global internet community and that such crimes hurt a lot of people.

The company specifically mentioned the $250,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and successful prosecution of those responsible for the Sobig email virus, which caused chaos for computer users in August this year.

Brad Smith, senior vice-president and general counsel at Microsoft, said: "Malicious worms and viruses are criminal attacks on everyone who uses the internet. Even as we work to make software more secure and educate users on how to protect themselves, we are also working to stamp out the criminal behaviour that causes this problem."

Sobig was particularly virulent and targeted a Microsoft website giving information on updating Windows to protect against such viruses. No one has been arrested over the attack.

Microsoft has joined forces with three law enforcement agencies in the fight: the FBI, the Secret Service and Interpol.

Keith Lourdeau, acting deputy assistant director of the FBI cyber division, said: "The malicious distribution of worms and viruses such as MSBlast and Sobig, are far from victimless crimes.

"Such attacks on the internet cost businesses worldwide millions -- some estimates claim billions -- of dollars and wreak havoc on individuals by ruining files, hard drives and other critical data."

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