NEWS The man who shopped the suspected author of the Sasser virus has himself fallen under suspicion of being involved in malware-making.
Along with four others, the man is now under investigation by German authorities, following the arrest of 18-year-old Sven Jaschan last month. According to reports in the Germany, the five are students at the same college as Jaschan.
The charges against Jaschan are several counts of computer sabotage, with the five others thought to be suspected of the same crime.
The man originally approached Microsoft about the suspected author's identity when the software giant put a price on virus writers' heads. If the informant is charged, he won't be receiving any of the $250,000 offered for the capture of those behind the malware.
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1. anonymous
Oh, and if the guy is totally innocent, then his place will be searched and if the tiniest piece of pirate software is found, or any virus writing software, or a cd burner, copied CD, blank cassette tape or a digital camera then Microsoft will withdraw the reward, claiming he was in on the whole thing.
If he is guilty, then fair enough, but if not, this smacks of a company trying to welch out of its deal.
The guy shopped his mate, for goodness sake.. Now PAY UP Microsoft and stop finding excuses to not pay.
2. Nick Weavers
It is ironic but these school/college boy virus writers are maybe doing us a service in finding some of the vulnerabilities that others with much more manevolent intent might exploit for their own criminal gain. Recent examples of real criminal activity being the blackmail attempts by mafia groups against online betting shops.