Microsoft has created a $5 million fund to pay rewards to people who help find and convict the authors of the original "Blaster" and "Sobig" Internet infections.
"We do believe this will make a difference," said Microsoft's general counsel, Brad Smith said. "We can't afford to have these criminals hide behind their computer screens."Anyone with information about the two computer infections to contact local offices of the FBI, Secret Service or Interpol, or send tips using the Web sites for Interpol or the FBI's Internet Fraud and Complaint Center.
The Blaster and Sobig programs spread rapidly among hundreds of thousands of computers running Windows, exposing weaknesses in the Microsoft software the company had billed as its most secure ever.
The FBI, Interpol and the U.S. Secret Service said the $5 million pledge was an unprecedented figure for a corporation to set aside for payments in future criminal investigations.
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"It's like going back to the Wild West," said Mikko Hypponen of F-Secure Corp., an antivirus company in Finland. He predicted some computer users who chat socially with virus-writers "could easily use their contacts and skills to collect bounties like that."
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