Microsoft’s Digital Crime Unit helped knock out one of the world’s most notorious spam purveyors back in March, but the company isn’t letting up on its pursuit of the people behind the Rustock “botnet.”
Microsoft has now issued a $250,000 reward for those who provide information that results in the identification, arrest and criminal conviction of the Rustock creators.
“This reward offer stems from Microsoft’s recognition that the Rustock botnet is responsible for a number of criminal activities and serves to underscore our commitment to tracking down those behind it,” Microsoft senior attorney Richard Boscovich writes in a blog post. “While the primary goal for our legal and technical operation has been to stop and disrupt the threat that Rustock has posed for everyone affected by it, we also believe the Rustock bot-herders should be held accountable for their actions.”
Boscovich described Rostock as “a spam giant” that had the capacity of sending more than 30 billion messages every day.
“We will continue to follow this case wherever it leads us and remain committed to working with our partners around the world to help people regain control of their Rustock-infected computers,” he wrote.
