Microsoft, law enforcement officials pursuing Sasser author

IDG News Service - Microsoft Corp. is working with law enforcement to find the author of the Sasser worm, which first appeared on Friday and targets machines running the company's Windows operating system.
Microsoft said it's working closely with authorities, including the Northwest CyberCrime Taskforce, to analyze Sasser's code and "identify those responsible for this malicious activity." The investigation is ongoing, according to Microsoft.
Sasser exploits a recently disclosed hole in a component of Windows called the Local Security Authority Subsystem Service, or LSASS. Microsoft released a software patch, MS04-011, on April 13 that plugs the LSASS hole.
Sasser is similar to an earlier worm, Blaster, in that users don't need to receive an e-mail message or open a file to be infected. Instead, just having a vulnerable Windows machine connected to the Internet with communications Port 445 is enough to get infected (see story).
Microsoft issued a statement yesterday saying that it is working with the task force to analyze malicious code in Sasser and in a Trojan program called Agobot, which was also modified to take advantage of the LSASS vulnerability.
The task force is a joint effort of the FBI, the U.S. Secret Service and local law enforcement agencies in Washington state, where Microsoft is based.
Microsoft referred questions about the investigation to the task force. Calls to the FBI, the Secret Service and the Seattle police weren't immediately returned.
The company also announced other steps it's taking to lessen the damage caused by Sasser, which is estimated to have infected hundreds of thousands of Windows XP and Windows 2000 machines on the Internet.
Microsoft released a free software program to clean Windows systems infected with Sasser. The company also published information on how to configure firewalls to stop the worm's spread and encouraged customers to enable their personal firewalls and install the Microsoft Windows patch that fixes the vulnerability Sasser exploits.
Besides working with law enforcement, Microsoft also offers bounties for information leading to the arrest of those responsible for major viruses and worms. In November, the company announced that it was allocating $5 million to a reward fund for the arrest of virus authors. In January, it offered a $250,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the author of the Mydoom.B worm.