Microsoft on Thursday said it is offering a $250,000 reward for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of whoever is responsible for creating the Conficker internet worm that has infected millions of PCs. Microsoft said it is offering the reward because the worm constitutes a "criminal attack" and offering compensation should hasten prosecution. Residents of any country are eligible for the reward and should contact their international law-enforcement authorities, the company said in a statement.
The worm, which has been around since last year, spreads through a hole in Windows systems, exploiting a vulnerability that Microsoft patched in October.
It also spreads via removable storage devices such as USB drives, and network shares by guessing passwords and usernames, which is "causing it to spread like wild fire in the enterprise", Jose Nazario, manager of security research for Arbor Networks, wrote on a company blog.
