Microsoft Corp, the world's largest software maker, offered a US$250,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the person or people responsible for creating a sequel to the Mydoom computer virus.
The virus triggered the first alert from the US Homeland Security Department's cyber alert system yesterday, the Redmond, Washington-based company said in a statement.
Residents of any country are eligible for the reward, Microsoft said.
Mydoom, the worst e-mail virus ever, started spreading and slowing corporate networks on Monday.
The variant, Mydoom.B, began circulating yesterday at a slower pace and with commands to infected computers to send waves of information requests to Microsoft's Web site next month in an attempt to shut it down.
"This worm is a criminal attack," said Brad Smith, general counsel at Microsoft, in the statement.
"Its intent is to disrupt computer users, but also to keep them from getting to anti-virus locations and other sites that could help them. Microsoft wants to help the authorities catch this criminal."
Microsoft hasn't yet seen any attacks from Mydoom.B on its Web site, company spokesman Sean Sundwall said.
"It doesn't seem to be as successful as the first one," said Craig Schmugar, a virus researcher with Network Associates Inc, which makes the McAfee anti-virus software.
He said his company also hasn't seen attacks from the second Mydoom virus.
Microsoft in November announced plans to offer US$5 million in rewards to help capture creators of malicious software code after virus attacks corrupted millions of computers last year by exploiting the company's programs.
The money includes a pair of US$250,000 bounties for tips leading to the arrest of those who unleashed the Blaster and Sobig viruses.
The August attacks shut down US railroad service and government agencies as well as Scandinavian phone networks.
Sundwall declined to comment on whether any information had been produced regarding SoBig and Blaster.
Chief executive Steve Ballmer has said Microsoft was "humbled" by the viruses, which slowed Internet traffic as they exploited weaknesses in the company's Windows operating system.
Sobig infected individual computers and sent e-mails to every Web address stored on each machine.
Blaster overloaded some networks by making computers restart repeatedly.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has yet to bring charges against the hackers who devised and unleashed the original Blaster and Sobig. Investigators have said tracking down hackers is very difficult.
A Minnesota teen, Jeffrey Lee Parson, was arrested in August on charges he wrote one of the Blaster worm variants.
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