Microsoft rewards Sasser informants

Sven Jaschan, 19, admitted he created Sasser, which attacked Windows systems worldwide, causing them to crash and reboot. A German court on Friday sentenced him to one year and nine months on probation and 30 hours of community service.

The reward will be paid out of Microsoft's antivirus reward program, which it created in November 2003 in an effort to help track down virus writers. Microsoft said rewards are paid to informants that are not involved in the crime and provide information that leads to an arrest and conviction.

This is the first reward to be paid from the program. Rewards have been offered for information in other cases, including the Blaster worm and the Sobig virus.