waltky
08-22-2005, 01:22 PM
"Malware" is "either looking to use your system without your knowledge to do something against other systems, or it's trying to collect information on you." - Curtis Franklin Jr., Secure Enterprise Magazine
August 22, 2005
In the early days of computer attacks, when bright teens could bring down corporate systems, the point was often to trumpet a hacker's success. No longer.
In today's murky world of digital viruses, worms, and Trojan horses, the idea is to stay quiet and use hijacked computers to flood the Internet with spam, spread destructive viruses, or disgorge e-mail to choke corporate systems. Not only can networks of these compromised computers be leased or sold, experts say, they are becoming more valuable as the number of vulnerable computers slowly shrinks.
That's a major reason that turf wars are emerging among hackers. Besides infiltrating computer systems, the viruses are now also designed to kill any other competing viruses in those systems. These skirmishes have gone on — quietly — for several years. Last week, for the second time in a little over a year, they exploded into public view. A worm dubbed Zotob infected computers at major media outlets, industrial companies, and San Francisco International Airport.
Three days after a Finnish computer-security firm discovered Zotob on Aug. 14, seven variations were on the loose. Five of them were designed to delete the initial worms that may have burrowed through the vulnerable spot in Windows 2000 first.
"We've been seeing an increase in these kinds of battles, especially in the last three years," says Tom Liston, an Internet security consultant with Intelguardians Network Intelligence, in Washington. "We're likely to see more."
Often the battles involve "proof of concept" hacker software, says Curtis Franklin Jr., a senior technical editor with Secure Enterprise Magazine. The programs' writers use it to test new techniques, so the viruses carry no "payloads" that can harm a computer system.
More http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/08/22/tech/main789723.shtml
August 22, 2005
In the early days of computer attacks, when bright teens could bring down corporate systems, the point was often to trumpet a hacker's success. No longer.
In today's murky world of digital viruses, worms, and Trojan horses, the idea is to stay quiet and use hijacked computers to flood the Internet with spam, spread destructive viruses, or disgorge e-mail to choke corporate systems. Not only can networks of these compromised computers be leased or sold, experts say, they are becoming more valuable as the number of vulnerable computers slowly shrinks.
That's a major reason that turf wars are emerging among hackers. Besides infiltrating computer systems, the viruses are now also designed to kill any other competing viruses in those systems. These skirmishes have gone on — quietly — for several years. Last week, for the second time in a little over a year, they exploded into public view. A worm dubbed Zotob infected computers at major media outlets, industrial companies, and San Francisco International Airport.
Three days after a Finnish computer-security firm discovered Zotob on Aug. 14, seven variations were on the loose. Five of them were designed to delete the initial worms that may have burrowed through the vulnerable spot in Windows 2000 first.
"We've been seeing an increase in these kinds of battles, especially in the last three years," says Tom Liston, an Internet security consultant with Intelguardians Network Intelligence, in Washington. "We're likely to see more."
Often the battles involve "proof of concept" hacker software, says Curtis Franklin Jr., a senior technical editor with Secure Enterprise Magazine. The programs' writers use it to test new techniques, so the viruses carry no "payloads" that can harm a computer system.
More http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/08/22/tech/main789723.shtml