Guess it's cheaper to pay out rewards than it is to fix the vulnerabilities that make the exploits possible. Jodi On Tue, 2004-11-09 at 09:13, Lindsay Druett wrote:
Hey All,
Please excuse the hypertext, but this came from LAN1s website, http://www.lan1.co.nz/default.aspx?p=snippet&story=1 , Fasinating...
The Microsoft Antivirus Reward Program In an effort to help law enforcement agencies identify and bring to justice those who illegally release damaging worms, viruses, and other types of malicious code on the Internet, Microsoft has created the Microsoft® Antivirus Reward Program, initially funded with US$5 million. Through this program, Microsoft will offer monetary rewards to persons who provide information that leads to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for launching malicious viruses and worms on the Internet. Both the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Secret Service, in coordination with Interpol, will investigate leads that are provided through this program in order to identify and prosecute those responsible for such crimes that harm the private industry and the public.
$750,000 in Awards Currently Offered Microsoft is offering three rewards under the Antivirus Rewards Program.
• The first reward, in the amount of US$250,000, is for information that results in the arrest and conviction of those responsible for launching the MSBlast.A worm (also known as Blaster). The worm was designed to prevent consumers from installing the latest software updates by attacking Microsoft's Windows® Update website, which provides updates to help users protect their computers against malicious attacks. • The second reward, in the amount of $250,000, is for information that results in the arrest and conviction of those responsible for launching the Sobig virus. This virus, the first variant of which was detected on January 10, 2003, attacked individual machines and sent itself to each e-mail address in the computer's contact list. The Sobig.B and Sobig.C variants of the virus made messages appear as if they had come from official Microsoft e-mail addresses. • The third reward, in the amount of $250,000, is for information that results in the arrest and conviction of those responsible for launching the Mydoom.B worm. Mydoom.B is a variant of the MyDoom.A worm, also known as the Novarg worm, which spread quickly to infect computers worldwide. The release of Mydoom.B triggered the first alert from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's new National Cyber Alert System.
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-- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jodi W. Anderson, Mr (BA, A+, MCP) - Computer Systems Consultant Waikato University Library - Computing Operations Group Ph: +64 7 838 4323 email: jodi(a)waikato.ac.nz "Right now I'm having amnesia and deja vu at the same time. I think I've forgotten this before." -----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK----- Version: GnuPG v1.2.4 (GNU/Linux) mQGiBEE7vXkRBADqdMs07cJuvCn02bG8FSR2iOW2V8M7KB0v5vnmkVI/DPsbbCxf dE23r/6ag1kYS8R8WvnYNUkjOoTKXslmLPFnq6+7Rp3K7g6X4dKyXknGThfai9KW kfdurINrR8FVKvIieidXNrAzl2ADquQ0WPtJCI1KbRb2kL3/tW6AumRS5wCg5fmM kW6Ml3RRfKGqSBRCOfVl7P0D/iCrQjXTskuT0mU/7ZJCQlP09PO5SDoe1vUX2tiB WlbmDnm4t46V1QATybUKM/V8J5rVOsigO/Nv/+9W8VC0KhBs8BR1lVT3jFy91pXr k9MhhjDjb6nhpeM771jdpOFYt+g+Lq/Q5MXKoAIxrEoycKM3JoI/yPwixoJWZlgx CdsvBADRnk/JAPNsWrjfCxLXcpE9b6x/pINncoCK+NKf16ONfw5ArkdFhJdWeJss nOvfEcBzY2RdJOJ5mQA8XnXoeGWrreT5TTUMsvoCF5/UJ1Zuuu0L8hOw0DKg9W0m QwbA7qkDZC9lMqCLmp6YreJydJAr2cp7U0p/d1Fpwd/lhH56LLQtSm9kaSBBbmRl cnNvbiAoV29yayBLZXkpIDxqb2RpQHdhaWthdG8uYWMubno+iF4EExECAB4FAkE7 vXkCGwMGCwkIBwMCAxUCAwMWAgECHgECF4AACgkQXzBud+/fPrsh2gCg4vHHtmbV R9rO8q5c+rbkAalwFmkAoJAAApKfPVHveqHJjVxNGfMXMlCAuQENBEE7vXsQBACf gUZY022ewIUzn3Zi4tcI7H2RXBEbYArtqXtuKdsMZm4N6TygINA4R5KsXF9xe3g7 VNioVVlgbA4h7L4xgt4TOjIxeZSEFuhQKAZ/isqGV9njeCJHhsX75jT0TcacQtNJ JST5IO70Ll6f1j8ZujZlNvUMz5lUTBIKR3XZ1+XlzwADBQQAg03LfdqvmDV1I9jD w7mNJfomW2FBE6Pt0h0oCocEecl4K86fySrjxzFoZW/NEcchvkWHG4Fd/Vr4fSRe aPfABzmFnJCN0YprOvv1cJHnckkSRpvGkHNmfcOH2mC+Tf/GGyi2n6wCe6bk/030 D/qYX3zBxR3SyHJvj5kRYBSt1ayISQQYEQIACQUCQTu9ewIbDAAKCRBfMG53798+ u7AWAKDhkU/ZlKYC+XkkHpAPs7Brf5c9PACgu9GBbiQW834G0lEHzEVYib1mgIM= =tr0I -----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----