Microsoft\'s Anti-Virus Reward Program

Microsoft's Anti-Virus Reward Program

On November 5, 2003, Microsoft Corporation announced the creation of the Anti-Virus Reward Program which was initially funded with $5 million to aid law enforcement agencies identify and ultimately prosecute those who illegally "release damaging worms, viruses and other types of malicious code on the Internet" (Microsoft pg). Moreover, Microsoft will provide the monetary rewards for information that results in the arrest and conviction of anyone responsible for launching malicious viruses and worms on the Internet (Microsoft pg). This reward system will be available to residents of any country according to the laws of that country, due to the fact that Internet viruses affect the Internet community worldwide (Microsoft pg).

Microsoft announced the first reward as part of the Reward Program, in the amount of $250,000 for information leading to the "arrest and conviction of those responsible for unleashing the MSBlast.A worm" (Microsoft pg). Although two arrests have been made in connection with the B. And C. variants of the MSBlast worm, the person or persons responsible for releasing the original worm have not been found (Microsoft pg). "The worm was designed to attack Microsoft's www.windowsupdate.comWeb site, which provides fixes for vulnerabilities and helps protect users against malicious attacks" (Microsoft pg).

Furthermore, Microsoft has offered another $250,000 reward for information resulting in the arrest and conviction of the party or parties responsible for unleashing the Sobig virus (Microsoft pg). The first variant of this virus was detected January 10, 2003, and "attacked individual machines and e-mailed itself to each e-mail address in the computer's contact list," then the "Sobig.B and Sobig.C variants of the virus made messages appear as if they had come from official Microsoft e-mail addresses" (Microsoft pg). So far no arrests have been made in connection with this virus (Microsoft pg).

Brad Smith, Microsoft's senior vice president and general counsel, said, "

Malicious worms and viruses are criminal attacks on everyone who uses the Internet... Even as we work to make software more secure and educate users on how to protect themselves, we are also working to stamp out the criminal behavior that causes this problem" (Microsoft pg). Smith explained that these were real crimes that harmed many people, not just cyber crimes or virtual crimes (Microsoft pg).

Says Smith, "Those who release viruses on the Internet are the saboteurs of cyberspace, and Microsoft wants to help the authorities catch them" (Microsoft pg).

Joining Microsoft at the announcement were representatives from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Secret Service and Interpol (Microsoft pg).

Keith Lourdeau, Acting Deputy Assistant Director of the FBI Cyber Division, echoed Smith's statements regarding the viruses, emphasizing that the viruses are not mere victimless crimes and stressed that such attacks on the Internet cost worldwide businesses millions of dollars and in some cases billions of dollars (Microsoft pg). Moreover, said Lourdeau, these viruses wreck havoc on individuals by "ruining files, hard drives and other critical data...We intend to vigorously pursue the perpetrators of these crimes, and we hope to see additional industry-government collaboration to identify these individuals" (Microsoft pg).