Microsoft has issued a reward in return for capturing a worm creator. The worm is called Downadup/Conficker. Microsoft views the virus as a criminal attack and will do all they can to prevent it from going any further. “Our message is very clear – whoever wrote this caused significant pain to our customers and we are sending a message that we will do everything we can to help with your arrest,” said Mr Stathakopulos from Microsoft‘s Trustworthy Computing Group.
The worm replicates itself and buries deep into the system making it hard to remove. It hunts around and guesses network usernames and passwords. Compromised machines can be used to send spam, as dead drops for stolen or pirated data and to launch attacks on other machines.
Be sure to keep your network up to date with Microsoft‘s updates, especially KB958644.
Read more about it here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7887577.stm