The SCO Group, Inc. today confirmed that it is experiencing a
distributed Denial-of-Service (DDOS) attack. SCO announced that it
is offering a reward of up to a total of $250,000 for information
leading to the arrest and conviction of the individual or
individuals responsible for creating the MYDOOM virus.
“During the past ten months SCO has been the target of several
DDOS attacks,” said Darl McBride, president and CEO, The SCO Group,
Inc. “This one is different and much more troubling, since it harms
not just our company, but also damages the systems and productivity
of a large number of other companies and organizations around the
world. The perpetrator of this virus is attacking SCO, but hurting
many others at the same time. We do not know the origins or reasons
for this attack, although we have our suspicions. This is criminal
activity and it must be stopped. To this end, SCO is offering a
total of $250,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and
conviction of those responsible for this crime.”
SCO is also working with U.S. law enforcement authorities
including the U.S. Secret Service and Federal Bureau of
Investigation (FBI) to determine the identity of the individual(s)
involved. Anyone with this information may contact their local FBI
office.
The Mydoom worm, also known as Novarg, is a mass-mailing worm
that arrives as an attachment with the file extension .bat, .cmd,
.exe, .pif, .scr, or .zip. When a user opens the attachment their
computer becomes infected and uses their computer with the
intention of connecting to the www.sco.com Web site on February 1, 2004.
Network security firms including Network Associates and Symantec
have already issued software updates to combat this particular
worm.