Microsoft bounty for worm creator - 18/02/2009

• Since it started circulating in October 2008 the Conficker worm has managed to infect millions of Windows computers.
• The software giant is offering the cash reward because it views the Conficker worm as a criminal attack.
• "People who write this malware have to be held accountable," said a Microsoft spokesperson.
• The Conficker worm is a self-replicating program that takes advantage of networks or computers that have not kept up to date with Windows security patches.
• It can infect machines via a net connection or by hiding on USB memory drives used to ferry data from one computer to another. Once in a computer it digs deep, setting up defences that make it hard to extract.
• The worm slithers through networks by guessing usernames and passwords. Abcom recommend hardening passwords by mixing in numbers, punctuation marks and capital letters.
• "We have not seen this type of worm or one of its class since 2004," said the spokesperson.
• In 2005 Microsoft paid out $250,000 (£171,000) to two individuals who helped identify the creator of the notorious Sasser worm. The author was arrested and sentenced by the German authorities.
• Rewards of $250,000 were offered over three other major computer worm threats known as Blaster, MyDoom and Sobig worms.
• Those perpetrators have never been caught.