"Storm worm", one of the larger Trojan horse attacks in recent years, is baiting people with timely information about a deadly, real-life storm front, security researchers said last week.
In just eight months the Storm worm has infected more than 20 million computers and built a zombie army -- or botnet -- capable of launching DDoS attacks that could be used against any organisation or even damage critical infrastructure, according to security experts.
In yet another twist to the Storm worm menace, spammers are using a fake YouTube site to trick users into downloading the malicious code.
The owners of the Storm botnet, whose identities are as yet unknown, could be preparing to sell off the "services" of segments of the network, according to Joe Stewart, a researcher from managed security services company SecureWorks.
Criminals behind the Storm worm have created a botnet containing millions of PCs, which have a combined computing power greater than the most powerful supercomputer in existence.
Botnet operators have become public enemy number-one as consumers, businesses and governments fall foul to identity theft, DDoS attacks and spam. Yet no one appears to be able to stop the spread of bots -- except maybe the media.
The world of IT security is in chaos, with CSOs seemingly on the front lines of a full scale global cyberwar being fought out by government hackers, botnet-controlling criminal gangs and compromised Web sites. Can we ever hope to keep networks safe in such an environment?
Security researchers worked overtime in 2007, which turned out to be a nightmare for software vendors from day one.
A worm that takes advantage of what some security experts describe as the most widespread Windows flaw ever has started spreading, while new analysis has uncovered a time bomb in the worm's code poised to unleash a furious denial of service attack at Microsoft itself.
A spike in Internet traffic caused by a worm over the weekend can be largely blamed on bad passwords and poor security practices, security experts said on Monday.
As the MSBlast worm continues its spread--to approximately 2,500 new computers each hour--antivirus firms said Wednesday that a new variant had been released.
See how one administrator came to evaluate the Cisco Security Agent (CSA) in response to a virus infection. You can also learn what CSA can and cannot do.
In 2002, users and companies got a respite from the disruptive viruses of 2001. But a more sophisticated generation of worms is on the way.
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The cash-strapped UK National Museum of Computing is home to an exhibition of the evolution of British PCs.… Watch it now
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