Security vendors heap scorn on hackers

NEWS Security software vendors were this morning ridiculing the hacker group that unleashed its latest attack on the world over the weekend. The group, which calls itself 'The Cult of the Dead Cow', released the code for the BO2K hacking tool which is a variant on the old Windows-invading Back Orifice, updated for the Windows 2000 upgrade. "These hackers should try growing up - they clearly have too much time on their hands. These attacks take half a year to build but 10 minutes for us to crack," said Jan Hruska, technical director at security specialists, Sophos. The hackers were adamant that the BO2K is going to be hard to fight off. The tool can give the hacker control of a computer or network from a remote location. Although security software writers have quickly posted updates to prevent attacks, the code has been released to the entire hacking community which can now write new variants. BO2K is the fourth major security scare this year. Kevin Street, technical director at Symantec, said that corporate funds needed to handle them are running out. Street added that the key to future protection strategies is easily upgradable security software.