Bounty For Virus Creators!

[Alan]

From zZip:

 

A $250,000 reward has been offered by the SCO Group Inc. “for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the individual or individuals responsible for creating the MyDoom virus,” a new virus launched during the past week.

 

 

  The computer virus, also known as Novarg, apparently is designed to attack SCO’s Web site, www.sco.com , beginning on Feb. 1.

 

 

  David Shows, president of Zzip Internet, predicted a week earlier that a new virus would follow on the heels of the Beagle or Bagle virus. That virus was set to expire Jan. 28, and Shows said then that it has been the history of such viruses to be immediately followed by a new, and often more serious, virus.

 

 

  “It followed the exact same pattern as the Sobig virus that followed the Blaster virus,” Shows said. The viruses typically “burn out” in a couple of weeks, but, in the meantime, “It’s making a drag on the entire Internet,” he said.

 

 

  The MyDoom virus reportedly is spreading faster than last year’s Sobig, the most widespread e-mail virus of 2003.

 

 

  Shows said his machines have been able to block the virus, but that “it has become more than just an annoyance. We’ve had 10,000 occurrences so far.”

 

 

  Actual damage done by the virus “is not that great,” Shows said. “It opens your machine up to spread itself out to other users.”

 

 

  The virus arrives via e-mail as an attachment with one of a number of possible file extensions, including .bat, .cmd, .exe, .scr, .zip or .pif, and may have a subject line of “test” or “status.” When a user opens the attachment, the computer becomes infected.

[Madmanmcp]

This is not new. Both SCO and Microsoft have offered a $250,000 reward for the authors of MyDoom, Microsoft will be under a ddos attack today supposedly from the MyDoom.b variant.

 

http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2...omBRewardPR.asp

 

Microsoft started this "Reward" system back in November with an initial stake of 5 Million dollars.

 

http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2...usRewardsPR.asp