Website calls for donations for Sasser author

Chicago (IL) - A group which calls itself the support sasser team, asks for donations for the author of sasser, an Internet worm which recently disrupted thousands of computers and networks around the world. According to the group, Sasser was intended to be a wake-up call, donations would be used to provide "some enjoyable days" for the author, the site says.

While German authorities are still investigating the origins of Sasser and people likely being involved in its creation and distribution, a group which indicates to be part of the "security scene" asks for donations for Sven Jaschan, who apparently created the worm.

The site claims that Sasser was a "harmless wake-up call" and could have been more destructive, if launched by "criminals with no respect for the public." "Sven did the right thin by making this alarm call," the site said. The blame instead goes to Microsoft whose products are not up to the threats the Internet poses today," it continued.

Experts usually agree that systems operated with Microsoft software generally are at a greater risk than - say - open source systems for example. The reason however is pointed to fact that large numbers of installations of Microsoft software makes those systems a more attractive target.

According to Internet Security Systems, open source software outpaces Microsoft software in terms of security holes discovered in a typical week. Symantec even believes that because of Linux gaining popularity, security exploits in Linux systems might occur more often in the coming months than users are used to.

The support sasser team asks for donations to be transferred by Paypal to allow Sven Jaschan "some enjoyable days at least, so he has something to remember with joy in the hard times to come." At the time of the research for this article the donations amounted to $67.