Microsoft offers $250,000 bounty for worm author

(The Guardian): Microsoft has put a $250,000 bounty on the head of the writer of the "Conficker/Downadup" worm that has infected millions of PCs worldwide in the past month – though past results suggest it might have limited success. The reward – for information leading to the capture and conviction of the author or authors of the software – follows similar cash incentives offered by Microsoft to catch virus writers since 2003. "The Conficker worm is a criminal attack. People who write this malware have to be held accountable," said George Stathakopoulos, of Microsoft’s Trustworthy Computing Group. Go to article