TELECOM Digest OnLine - Sorted: Microsoft Rewards Sasser Worm Informants

Microsoft Rewards Sasser Worm Informants

Newswire (Reuters@telecom-digest.org)
Sun, 10 Jul 2005 20:05:18 -0500

Microsoft Corp. will pay a combined $250,000 to two people who helped
track down the author of the Sasser Internet worm, which infected
computers around the globe, the world's largest software maker said on
Friday.

A German court hours earlier gave Sven Jaschan a suspended sentence of
21 months after he admitted creating the malicious software program.

Jaschan, 19, was arrested within a week after the Sasser worm first
appeared on the Internet in May 2004 and infected more than a million
computers running Microsoft's Windows operating system.

The two individuals, who were not identified, will share the reward,
which Microsoft established with Interpol, the FBI and the U.S. Secret
Service.

Microsoft, based in Redmond, Washington, has been trying to make its
software more secure and reliable, and has also vowed to go after
hackers and others who create worms and malicious software viruses by
offering bounties and also suing them in court.

In January, Jeffrey Lee Parson, 19, sentenced in U.S. District Court
in Seattle to a year-and-a-half in prison for releasing a variant of
the Blaster worm that was used to attack more than 48,000 computers.

Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited.

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