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Bounty for Virus Makers
Douglas Chick
W32.Novarg.A@mm, also known as the Doom Worm, is the newest of digital
parasites that is infesting the Internet. Microsoft has already announced a
$5 Million Reward for virus makers, $250,000 each for information that helps
find and convict those responsible for the Blaster worm and the SoBig virus,
how much will the Doom Worm be worth to you? Microsoft is also offering
$250,000.00 for the creator of the virus.
Current estimates show that between 20% and 30% of all email traffic
worldwide is generated by the W32.Novarg.A@mm worm, says F-Secure.
Digital bounty hunting is something new to the Internet, hunting criminals
is not. Now computer people have an incentive to do more to stop virus
makers than just #@$#& curse them; they can be paid a bounty and
#@$#& curse them. Virus makers are the computer professional's
antagonists. Viruses do more than just cause irritation; they steal unpaid
hours from the computer professional that must stay and work late at night
to remove these parasites. Most IT staff are paid on salary. It is bad
enough to have to work late hours when doing legitimate work, but to work
late over something as unnecessary as a virus is criminal in itself.
I know some computer people that have mixed feelings about the
W32.Novarg.A@mm virus because of how it is designed to attack Microsoft and
SCO's website. There are a lot of frustration towards these two companies by
many computer people, but digital vigilantism is going to put more
restrictions on Internet users, not Microsoft and SCO. The fact of the
matter is, digital terrorism produces the same affects as any terrorism;
more laws and more government involvement. Just like how the affects of 9/11
gave governments more power over the people, not less. Digital terrorism is
giving government more rights over the computer user.
Already DSL companies are stopping Internet services on their customers that
are infected with worms and other types of viruses in an effort to stop
their spread and to prevent potential lawsuits from claims of not doing
enough to protect their Internet customers. Internet providers have no
choice but to punish the victims of virus to protect customers not yet
contaminated. Soon it will be countries being blocked from accessing network
segments in the U.S. Visiting websites in the U.S. are as close to freedom
and the freedom of speech as many people from other countries will ever get.
Viruses and spam that are allowed to originate abroad will be severed and
culled by ISPs to protect their customer base. Like other acts of terrorism,
W32.Novarg.A@mm will only help to serve the very people that the attack was
designed against.
The makers of the Blaster worm and the SoBig virus, and now W32.Novarg.A@mm
haven't been apprehended as of yet, but with a $250,000.00 bounty looming
over their heads it will only be a matter of time. Time is always against
these people as loyalties to friendships fade and $250,000.00 can be all the
money in the world. Soon there will be an arrest, some geek will have his or
her, 15 minutes of fame, and a very tiny person will be escorted into a very
large federal institution with inmates that think geek is an acronym for
(Girl Either End Kinky). You know what I mean.
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E-mail
your comments to dougchick@thenetworkadministrator.com