Well, we did ask Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) to do something about its security problems. In a rather strange twist today, the company announced a cash bounty for the capture of those who unleashed two bugs on the computer world earlier this year.
If you're able to turn over information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the masterminds behind the MSBlast.A worm and the Sobig virus, you could pocket up to half a million dollars in reward money. The $500,000 is just part of a pool of $5 million the company is setting aside for an "Anti-Virus Reward Program" to aid law enforcement.
Will the program help? "People in the hacking community will turn on one another in a heartbeat," Internet Security Systems' Patrick Gray told CBS MarketWatch. "These folks have few morals, and unlike religious radicals, they have learned materialism."
Microsoft will take some flak for this, because the program is analogous to offering rewards for the capture of outlaws who walk through holes in a fence, rather than fixing the fence itself. But the company has already dedicated itself to fixing the security problems and it's pouring a lot of money into that effort. The reward program will not detract from that process.
All we need now, though, is a "most-wanted hackers" deck of playing cards.
Individuals with information about the MSBlast.A worm or the Sobig virus, or any other worms or viruses, should contact the following international law enforcement agencies:
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International/Interpol: via the Interpol National Central Bureau in any of Interpol's 181 member countries or at
http://www.interpol.int/
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FBI or Secret Service: via any local field office
- The Internet Fraud Complaint Center: at http://www.ifccfbi.gov/
