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

2 points by oldwesley ↗ HN
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?

3 comments

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khafra
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

oldwesley
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.