Summary
13 February 2009
Microsoft is offering a reward of $250,000 to help bring the creator of a computer worm to justice.
The worm, known as Conficker or Downadup, has spread to millions of computers worldwide.
Reporter:
Maggie Shiels
Listen
Click to hear the report:
Report
Microsoft says people who write this malware have to be held accountable and know the company will not let this kind of activity go unchecked.
George Stathakapulous, the general manager of its trustworthy computing group, says "our message is very clear - whoever wrote this caused significant pain to our customers and we are sending a message that we will do everything we can to help with your arrest".
Since the malicious program was discovered in October 2008, it's estimated that as many as 12 million computers have been affected globally.
The Conficker worm is a self-replicating program that takes advantage of networks or computers that have not kept up to date with Windows security patches.
It can infect machines from the internet or by hiding on USB memory sticks, carrying data from one computer to another. The worm slithers through networks by guessing usernames and passwords.
Security specialists recommend hardening passwords by mixing in numbers, punctuation marks and upper case letters.
Maggie Shiels, 大象传媒 News, Silicon Valley
Listen
Click to hear the vocabulary:
Vocabulary
- malware
- a computer virus, i.e. a program that has been designed to stop affected computers working properly
- to be held accountable
- here, to take responsibility and be punished
- will not let this kind of activity go unchecked
- here, will make sure that creators of computer viruses are found, monitored and, if necessary, stopped and punished
- caused significant pain to
- here, made computers stop working properly and therefore seriously affected (the customers)
- malicious
- intended to harm or upset
- takes advantage of
- makes use of, affects
- takes advantage of
- makes use of, affects
- security patches
- programs specially created by computer companies to protect their product from viruses
- slithers through
- easily moves around/crosses
- hardening
- here, making more difficult to guess
- self-replicating
- that can make copies of itself
