Microsoft has announced rewards of US$250,000 each for information leading to the conviction of the people who launched W32/Blaster.A and W32/Sobig worms on the Internet as part of its' US$5 million "Anti-Virus Reward Program". Microsoft notes that it is very difficult to trace virus writers by technical means, and intends that the rewards will encourage associates of virus writers to inform on their friends.
Anti-virus companies and other commentators have been cautious in predicting the outcome of the campaign. It may induce some interesting revelations, or it may just encourage more paranoia and secrecy in an already paranoid group. Certainly, although several people have been arrested in connection with producing variants of the Blaster worm, the original author has kept a much lower profile.
An unfortunate (and unintended) side effect might be that misguided vigilantes attempt to break into anti-virus companies. After all, it is a well-known Urban Myth that anti-virus companies write viruses, as seen in a Dilbert cartoon (published 29th November 2003), so what better place to look for incriminating evidence?
Recent attempts to use large bounties to capture wanted persons in Iraq have had minimal effect; perhaps Microsoft will publish a new version of Solitaire?