NEWS A new worm, called Zindos, is launching an attack on Microsoft.com by using an army of machines infected by the MyDoom.O virus and the Zincite Trojan installed earlier this week. Security experts believe the malware is linked.
On Monday, MyDoom.O attacked search engines and brought down the Alta Vista, Google, Lycos and Yahoo! sites. Now that success has apparently inspired a similar 'denial of service' attack aimed at Microsoft, using the platform created by the MyDoom.O attack.
The software giant is no stranger to malicious levels of traffic and as with the SoBig and MyDoom viruses the company claims to have in place measures to keep its website available.
Katrin Tocheva, team manager of antivirus systems at F-Secure, said that she is almost certain that MyDoom and Zindos were written by the same programmer because they worked together so well.
"MyDoom prepared the way by infecting a large number of systems and creating a list of compromised systems. Zindos then uses this list and the back doors prepared by MyDoom to quickly spread and hit its target," said Tocheva.
Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos, agrees that the two worms seem too similar to have been written independently.
"There are similarities in their code and the fact that Zindos seems to know MyDoom so intimately - in terms of the back door it opens. It's like Zindos knows the secret handshake to get into a private club," Cluley said.
Munir Kotadia writes for ZDNet UK.
Comments
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1. anonymous
Unpalatable as it might seem, bearing in mind the seemingly neverending series of attacks using home user PC's as bots, perhaps the time has come to reduce or stop home access. Especially broadband, by compelling UK ISP's to 'switch off' BB access to home users, followed by a 'switch off' of dial-up access.
Companies should perhaps look carefully to see who really needs Internet access. Think of the employee hours saved in not having to read e-mails. UK broadband, (ADSL & cable) is fairly pathetic anyway as to be almost useless compared to other countries. Prohibiting anyone under 21 having Interner access, including a shutdown of all access at schools & universities, etc.
As recent surveys indicate what many of us knew anyway. That the Internet is of dubious value in education.
Metaphorically painful perhaps & an extreme solution but the Internet seems to be dying anyway. Unless something is done to catch & severely punish the culprits & source of much of the recent woe, etc
2. anonymous
That's right - no-one really needs internet access just the same as they don't really need a car or a phone or anything else. Why should the masses have access to all that information? They don't need it and quite probably don't deserve it. Only the elite shall have it! Only they deserve it! Think of how much better it would be if only the wise had access to all human knowledge! (Falls over ranting and frothing). Come on. Attempt to limit access to anyone and you might as well switch the whole lot off and go back to message sticks.
3. anonymous
I've often heard it said that Americans completely fail to appreciate ironic (usually British) humour - based on that last posting, it looks like we can add a certain UK Company Director to that category..
When is silicon.com being published on message sticks anyway?
4. anonymous
Why is Internet access so important?
We managed when we did not have it.
Employees would possibly become more productive without it, until the scenario below happens.
With reference to the car. If Alistair Darling has his way with the 'spies in vehicles' countrywide charging scheme, everyone will be priced off the road. Business will grind to a halt, the country will grind to a halt, etc.
A moderate user at 10,000 miles per annum would fact a bill at £1.50 per mile of something in the region of £15,000. So as all service infrastructure collapses Internet usage will seem of little consequence to a country without, power, water, gas, fuel, emergency services, hospitals, etc.
As usual nobody has thought through the full implications of this latest of their control freak zealot schemes.