Major concern over network-clogging worm

They bred more effective variants on a worm that surfaced a few days ago and quickly snarled computers in the US, UK, Asia and Germany. According to News24, the worm, which uses the names Blaster, LovSan, and MSBlast, spread extremely quickly. The virus attacks a weakness in Microsoft\'s Windows systems. Microsoft said the Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows NT and Windows Server 2003 were the most vulnerable and urged immediate action. The worm is unusual in that it does not rely on e-mails to infect computers but rather enters through a regular Internet connection. Infected computers can be cleared by downloading a patch from Microsoft and then running a worm removal tool from an anti-virus firm. Full report on News24

However, some analysts downplayed the threat, saying the virus was not as prevalent as computer users were initially led to believe. ITWeb reports that Eset SA, producer of the NOD32 anti-virus system, said concern in SA appears to be fuelled by global media reports, but ‘in reality, the situation at home is not serious’. It said the virus is able to infect only computers not protected by a firewall, which most companies already employ. Full ITWeb report

The recent surge in worms could be part of an underground battle to hijack PCs for use in Net crimes. Signs of a turf war between cybercrooks lie in the behavior of the worms that have emerged over the past few days, according to CNET News. Mikko Hypponen, chief research officer at F-Secure, a Finnish security software company, said the dozen or so worms and variants all exploit a security hole in the plug-and-play feature in the Windows 2000 operating system. However, some versions undo the effects of earlier worms, suggesting that the creators are battling to take over computers that others have already compromised. ‘We seem to have a botwar on our hands’, Hypponen said. ‘There appear to be three different virus-writing gangs turning out new worms at an alarming rate, as if they were competing to build the biggest network of infected machines.’ The outbreak has a financial motive, according to Sophos, an antivirus company based in England. ‘Organised criminal gangs are behind attacks like these, and their motive is to make money,’ said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos. The worm battle has likely only just begun, said Alex Shipp, a senior antivirus technologist at MessageLabs, an e-mail security company. He said there may well be a period of intense activity in malicious software attacks as these groups vie for ‘pole position.’ Full CNET News report