Ask HN: What's in it for the author of Conficker?

2 pointsoldwesley3 comments

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?

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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.

(1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Tappan_Morris (2) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Business_Network

wiki: The RBN has been described by VeriSign as "the baddest of the bad"

Great links. Thanks. Can't believe rtm didn't serve any jail time.

This is the NYTimes piece where they discuss the Microsoft reward:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/01/technology/internet/01viru...

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