REDMOND, Wash., Jan. 29 (UPI) -- Microsoft Corp. Thursday offered a quarter of a million dollar reward to find the authors of the recent MyDoom.B worm that has crippled computers worldwide.
The virus is a variant of an earlier version -- MyDoom.A. It was detected Wednesday when it triggered the first alert of the Department of Homeland Security's cyber alert system.
The U.S. computer giant said it would pay the $250,000 reward for information resulting in the arrest and conviction of whomever is responsible for the worm. The reward was applicable worldwide because of the international scope of the worm's damage, Microsoft said.
"This worm is a criminal attack," Microsoft Senior Vice President Brad Smith said in the company's release. "Its intent is to disrupt computer users, but also to keep them from getting to anti-virus locations and other sites that could help them. Microsoft wants to help the authorities catch this criminal."
