Feb
16
- Chris Thomas
- 16/Feb/2009 09:30
Microsoft are offering $250,000 for the originator of the Downadup/Confliker virus. The virus which has been around for 5 months has been inffecting millions of computers world wide. "People who write this malware have to be held accountable," said George Stathakopulos, of Microsoft's Trustworthy Computing Group talking to the BBC.
It begs the question as to why there are not more incentives to encourage a crack down on virus writers. Perhaps there was once some kind of romantic notion of the individual standing up against the large monilithic corporate. There was certainly alot of anomosity against the large corporates for producing substandard products over the years which helped fuel the mass of virus writers. However, these days whole economies can be affected by these attacks, which have far reaching consequences for everyone.
Look at the recent baulkan conflict and the frenzy of hacking between groups in Russia and Georgia. Cyberwar is reaching new levels with many predicting it will get far worse as the recession hits and individuals get more desperate. With the governments track record of completely failing to understand Internet policing they will be unable to help, so who should?
Read more on the BBC web site.