Microsoft Pays $250,000 Bounty For Apprehension of

[Zeus_Hunt]

Would you imagine Microsoft involved in something that resembles an action-movie, with bounty hunters, rewards, criminals running from the law and so on? Well, it seems that this picture is not far from reality, at least in the case of the apprehension of Sasser’s author, Sven Jaschan.

According to the Times Online, Microsoft has paid a $250,000 reward to two unnamed informers who helped trace the mastermind behind the Sasser internet worm, which infected computers around the globe and cost businesses million

of dollars.

A German judge on Friday handed down a suspended sentence of one year and nine months to 19-year-old German Sven Jaschan, who also has to complete 30 hours of community service while on probation, according to a statement issued by the the court in Verden, Germany. The probationary period is three years, and Jaschan will have to fulfil the community service part of his sentence in a retirement home or a hospital, the court said.

Jaschan was found guilty on four counts of altering data and three counts of computer sabotage. During his trial, Jaschan admitted to charges of data manipulation, computer sabotage and interfering with public corporations. The trial, which started on Tuesday and ended on Friday, was held behind closed doors because Jaschan was a minor at the time of the crime.

Sasser, which exploited a flaw in certain versions of Microsoft’s Windows operating systems - Windows 2000, Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP struck on May 1, 2004, and in less than a week hit as many as 18 million computers worldwide, forcing some businesses to shut in order to debug systems.

As for the very tempting reward, Nancy Anderson, Microsoft general counsel, said in a statement that "It has been important and gratifying to collaborate with and support law enforcement in this case. We're glad to provide a monetary reward to those individuals who provided credible information that helped the German police authorities."

In the future if any1 plans to release any viruses or worms... :D

Plz PM me informing the same so that I can get a bounty from M$ :lol: