Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Microsoft Offers A Bounty On Virus Writers

Posted by timothy on from the must-bring-left-ears dept.

Iphtashu Fitz writes "According to news.com Microsoft will announce a bounty of $250,000 on Wednesday for information on who wrote two recent Windows viruses. The bounty is offered for information that leads to the arrest of the people who released the MSBlast worm and the SoBig virus. Microsoft will officially announce the reward in a joint press conference with the FBI and U.S. Secret Service Wednesday morning. This is the first time a company has offered money for information about the identity of the cybercriminals. Could this be the start of a new trend in going after the writers of viruses & worms?"

3 of 719 comments (clear)

  1. Oh come on.... by miketang16 · · Score: -1, Redundant

    Don't hurt those virus writers, they provide hours of amusement for me. Like when you connect a virgin Windows machine to the internet, and within 10 minutes its shutting down due to a virus. That's gotta be one of the funniest things ever...

    --
    -------
    "In times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act."
    -- George Orwell
  2. Cheaper than fixing the bugs in Windows by threeturn · · Score: -1, Redundant

    Humm, $500,000 to hide the holes in your software by discouraging virus writers. Cheaper than fixing all the bugs I suppose.

  3. This is good. by jellomizer · · Score: -1, Redundant

    There are a lot of people who say that this wont fix Microsofts insecurities. Which is true. But by locking up a one time murderer wont stop murders.
    Many people think writing viruses don't hurt people. But they do. Many companies are loosing a lot of money to fix their viruses (Big ones and especially the small "Mom and Pop" Shops, Non-Profit Organizations, Utilities, Hospitals. With these viruses there is a period of time they are out of commission where they are not functioning. There is a lot of money loss and perhaps loss of lives if the system is critical.
    It is true that good administration and using quality OS's and not the MS Junk will illuminate or reduce the problem. But you are not going to get that to happen anytime soon. Because there are to many people who are afraid of computers and afraid of changing to a better platform. To have any quick changes in mentality will be slow at best. But aggressive legal and putting heads on these people will help get the message across that this type of activity does cause damage and is dangerous.

    --
    If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.