This is a first: Microsoft is offering a reward of £172,000 to find the mastermind behind the Downadup/Conficker virus.
The Conficker virus is seen as a criminal attack by software giant Microsoft.
The malicious program started circulating in October 2008 and has infected millions of computers worldwide.
“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,”
The worm is a self-replicating program that takes advantage of networks of computers that have not been updated with the latest Windows security patches.
Once on the computer, it manifests itself and sets up defences, thus making it hard to remove.
As many other viruses do, Conficker slithers through networks by guessing usernames and passwords. Then the worm reports in to its creators by visiting a web domain.
Malware such as Downadup can be triggered to steal data or turn control of infected computers over to malicious hackers which pool them into larger armies of so-called botnets.
