botnets
Conficker spreads anew, covers tracks and begins pitching fake AntiVirus
April 10, 2009
Trend Micro virus hunter Ivan Macalintal appears to be the first researcher to identify specific, updated instructions being passed along, node-to-node, among PCs infected with Conficker Variant C.
On April 8, Macalintal isolated an infected PC in Korea that was passing the update across Conficker’s customized P2P network. The PC in Korea received the update from another node on Conficker’s P2P net. Macalintal told LastWatchdog that he also has identified …More
Could Waledec be the second-coming of the infamous Storm email worm?
March 1, 2009
ABSOLUTELY DO NOT click on this Couponizer online ad. You will turn over control of your PC to the Waledec botnet. You will likely get a banking trojan installed, and your machine performance may slow when your PC is assigned to spread email spam and participate in denial of service attacks.
Not much has been written about Waledec. Yet there is a lot of circumstantial evidence suggesting …More
Cisco and Trend Micro offer router-level protection
February 18, 2009
Cisco Systems and Trend Micro have come up with a nifty way for home owners and small businesses to centrally deploy antivirus protection to a network of devices – just like a big corporation. The two companies announced a partnership to imbed Trend’s antivirus suite in two models of Linksys by Cisco Wireless-N routers.
The concept, called Home Network Defender, makes a lot of sense. It makes it a breeze for …More
$250,000 reward for Conficker controllers’ scalps
February 16, 2009
That $250,000 bounty Microsoft has put up for the scalps of the controllers of the globe-spanning Conficker worm seems about right. Conficker, aka Downadup, has now infected the German military, as well as networks of the UK and French Air Forces and England’s Sheffield Teaching Hospitals. After several weeks of informal collaborations, the world’s top virus hunters have formed an official posse to hunt …More
Beware of viral Valentine’s Day spam and other scams
February 13, 2009
Cyber criminals have begun inundating the Internet with Valentine’s Day-themed spam, bogus web deals and even blackmail.
PC Tools has uncovered one of the more innovative variants: an email offer for a “Valentine Devkit” you supposedly can use to custom design a nifty online Valentine’s card for your sweetheart. Do not click, no matter how cute you think these puppies are!
Other viral Valentine’s spam coming from operators of the Waledec botnet, …More
FAQ — The Ominous Downadup/Conficker worm
February 10, 2009
The creators/controllers of the unnerving Downadup/Conficker worm that continues to spread, mostly via unpatched Windows PCs inside corporate networks, have been very good about holding their cards close, giving few hints of how they plan to use a botnet of several million infected PCs. Here’s an FAQ I’ve assembled, derived from interviews with F-Secure’s Patrik Runald, Secureworks’ Don Jackson, Arbor Networks’ Jose Nazario, Sunbelt Software’…More
Microsoft pays $250,000 bounty for capture of creator of Netsky/Sasser
April 1, 2008
Book Excerpt
Chapter 4 – Self-Anointed Avenger
Pages 52- 59
Zero Day Threat: The Shocking Truth of How Banks and Credit Bureaus Help Cyber Crooks Steal Your Money and Identity
Virus Wars
Subject: Hi
So began the Virus Wars of 2004. It would pit the new breed of for-profit virus writers against an idealistic German teenager. Collateral damage would reverberate around the globe: tens of millions of PCs compromised; hospitals, banks, and transportation systems …More