I was reading that Microsoft is offering $250,000 for information leading to the author of the Conficker virus. So, why would someone write such a thing and put themselves in the crosshairs of authorities? How does the author profit from this mess?
Worms aren't created by the likes of RTM(1) anymore; malware has been big business, and global, for quite a while now. Conficker was probably created by a professional malware engineer, or a team of them, working for somebody like the Russian Business Network(2)--and in a jurisdiction that makes legal prosecution difficult.<p>(1) <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Tappan_Morris" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Tappan_Morris</a>
(2) <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Business_Network" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Business_Network</a>
This is the NYTimes piece where they discuss the Microsoft reward:<p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/01/technology/internet/01virus.html?_r=1&hpw" rel="nofollow">http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/01/technology/internet/01viru...</a>