Help Me Make $500,000!

Factual Questions
1

Well, not really. So I’m reading about MyDoom and SCO and Microsoft are offering $250,000 each for information about the creator of the virus.

I assume that applies to things like the person posting “OMG D00DZ! I HAX0RED MICROSOFT!!!11” or something, but is there some kind of “virus forensics” people who know what they’re doing can do to break down the virus into source code or something? Is it as simple as running the program through a Hex editor and hoping or is there more to it? And, most importantly, any suggested, intro-level readings on the subject?

2

I always imagined they were hoping the culprit would’ve boasted about it to a friend, and that friend is who they’re offering the reward to.