Microsoft has credited its virus bounty scheme for the arrest of a German computer programmer who is suspected of unleashing the Sasser computer worm.
The unnamed 18-year-old student from Rotenburg, a small town in the northern state of Lower Saxony, is reported to have confessed to creating the worm, after being apprehended by police on 7 May.
鈥淕iven detailed statements by the student on the viruses that he created, he has been identified without doubt as being behind them,鈥� said a spokesman for Lower Saxony police.
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The suspect was tracked down after sources contacted Microsoft to ask if it would give them a financial reward for information about the author of the worm.
In November 2003 the company said it would give $250,000 rewards for information leading to the successful prosecution of the creators of three prolific computer worms: 鈥淏laster鈥�, 鈥淪obig鈥� and 鈥淢ydoom鈥�.
Source code
Microsoft says the informants provided source code that showed their lead was authentic. 鈥淲e had overwhelming technical evidence in this case provided by the informants and confirmed by our experts,鈥� Brad Smith, Microsoft鈥檚 general counsel, told The Washington Post. Smith said Microsoft would give the informants $250,000 if there was a successful prosecution.
The US Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Secret Service also helped Microsoft trace the origins of the Sasser outbreak.
More than a million computers were infected by Sasser, which spread rapidly last week. The worm exploited a software bug in Microsoft鈥檚 Windows XP, Windows Server 2003 and Windows 2000 operating system to spread between computers automatically.
Hidden taunt
The arrested student is also suspected of creating another computer worm called Netsky.ac. Buried in the code of this worm was a message taunting investigators. It read: 鈥淒o you know that we have programmed the sasser virus?!? Yeah, that鈥檚 true鈥�.
Earlier evidence suggests the Netsky virus was the work of a gang of virus writers. Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant with UK anti-virus firm Sophos, says the suspect鈥檚 computer could hold vital clues to the identity of other gang members.
鈥淚f this is the case, this could be one of the most significant cybercrime arrests of all time,鈥� Cluley says. 鈥淪eizing this man鈥檚 computers could provide the vital clues which will bring down the infamous 鈥楽kynet鈥� virus-writing gang. We would not be surprised if more arrests follow in due course.鈥�