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| Was Sven Jaschan's identity revealed to Microsoft
by one of his fellow students? |
According to reports in the German media, the person who gave
Microsoft valuable information which lead to the
arrest of Sven Jaschan,
the suspected author of the Sasser worm, may themselves be under
suspicion.
It has been widely reported that the German office of Microsoft
was approached on Wednesday 5 May by someone inquiring about
whether a cash award was available for information leading to the
capture of Sasser's author. According to Microsoft $250,000 was
duly offered.
As well as Sven Jaschan, five other students at Jaschan's
college are also being investigated. According to the
German-language Focus news magazine, one of these five students was
involved in passing information to Microsoft about Jaschan, and is
now being investigated concerning computer sabotage.
Speaking of the five students who have been questioned and had
their houses raided and computer systems examined, the public
prosecutor's spokesman Detlev Dyballa was reported as saying: "I
cannot rule out that these include the person who has tipped off
Microsoft about the author of Sasser."
The person suspected of informing Microsoft has been reportedly
named only as "Marle B". Dyballa refused to give more detailed
information as the investigation continues.
Microsoft spokesman Thomas Baumgärtner has said that the
software giant will not hand out a reward to those involved in the
crime: "If they were involved in the Sasser case, they won't get
anything".
"Mystery continues to surround the identity of the Sasser
informants, and security experts have publicly speculated that
maybe they are involved in the computer underground," said
Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos. "If Sven
Jaschan's identity as the author of Sasser was revealed by one of
his fellow students then it's possible there was a violent
disagreement between those engaged in spreading the viruses."
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