“The Storm worm first appeared at the beginning of the year… Although it’s most commonly called a worm, Storm is really more: a worm, a Trojan horse and a bot all rolled into one. It’s also the most successful example we have of a new breed of worm, and I’ve seen estimates that between 1 million and 50 million [Windows] computers have been infected worldwide,” Bruce Schneier reports for Wired.
“Worms like Storm are written by hackers looking for profit, and they’re different. These worms spread more subtly, without making noise. Symptoms don’t appear immediately, and an infected computer can sit dormant for a long time. If it were a disease, it would be more like syphilis, whose symptoms may be mild or disappear altogether, but which will eventually come back years later and eat your brain,” Schneier reports.
“Storm has been around for almost a year, and the antivirus companies are pretty much powerless to do anything about it. Inoculating infected machines individually is simply not going to work, and I can’t imagine forcing ISPs to quarantine infected hosts. A quarantine wouldn’t work in any case: Storm’s creators could easily design another worm — and we know that users can’t keep themselves from clicking on enticing attachments and links,” Schneier reports.
“Redesigning the Microsoft Windows operating system would work, but that’s ridiculous to even suggest,” Schneier reports.
“Oddly enough, Storm isn’t doing much, so far, except gathering strength. Aside from continuing to infect other Windows machines and attacking particular sites that are attacking it, Storm has only been implicated in some pump-and-dump stock scams. There are rumors that Storm is leased out to other criminal groups. Other than that, nothing,” Schneier reports. “Personally, I’m worried about what Storm’s creators are planning for Phase II.”
More in the full article here.
“Gathering ‘Storm’ superworm . . .”
What a strange coincidence.
That’s been my nickname since high school.
Your nickname is Superworm? What, are you real skinny?
Some parts are. Some parts aren’t. That’s the beauty.
Great news for us safe and secure mac users.
Only idiots use windows these days.
*sets up lawn chair sits back and waits for the fireworks…
It would be nice to be smug about all this. We can feel happy we’re on Macs. But if someone wants to do something evil with this, that’s not comforting. For example, what if the creators of this sell access not to organized crime but to a certain organization of radical fundamentalist religious zealots with murky roots in the mountains along the border of Pakistan and Afghanistan? We depend on PCs for so much today. While it is sad that we are so dependent, it’s also chilling what could happen if all of them went down. Hard.
The only salvation I can consider is that increasingly, people are buying and using Macs.
Worm farming can be quite peacefull…..
“Redesigning the Microsoft Windows operating system would work, but that’s ridiculous to even suggest,’ Schneier reports.”
Logic and greed are strange bedfellows. Ballmer has enough on his plate already. Like half of Seattle’s pork products.
“Because they know all they sold ya was a guaranteed piece of shit. That’s all it is, isn’t it? Hey, if you want me to take a dump in a box and mark it guaranteed, I will. I got spare time. But for now, for your customer’s sake, for your daughter’s sake, ya might wanna think about buying a quality product from me.”
– Tommy Callahan
Mac users could still get SPAM from these Windows boxes so it is still a hassle for us. I just started getting spam today as a result of this on my work PC. The sender’s email address has a coworkers email address or a client’s email address. When I went to block the email I found this out and now I’m not sure how to block this spam.
Note to Zune Tang:
The “Cure” can be found — Over Here
What say you ?
Has there ever been a case where a virus infected user sued Microsoft for their incompetence regarding OS security?
How come people sue Apple for reducing the iPhone price by $200 when companies are losing millions if not billions because of Windows’ poor security?
Are people mad? Where has the world come to?
The Storm worm is Microsoft fault. They should compensate infected users. Bill should give at least half (MDN Magic word BTW) his wealth in order to pay for these damages.
“We depend on PCs for so much today. While it is sad that we are so dependent, it’s also chilling what could happen if all of them went down. Hard “
Thats when Apple will release Mac OSX for PC’s, and Steve will get the Noble Peace prize
I’m wondering myself if this is responsible for all the ridiculous spam these days, all the ‘penis enlargement’ come-ons. If my penis were any larger, it would need its own zip code!
@Don’t laugh:
What’s to stop the hackers from selling it to some radical fundamentalist Christian group in Texas that’s working to bring about “The Rapture” so they can all get beamed up and chill with the sky fairy. America has it’s own version of the Taliban, otherwise known as “The Base” of the Republican party.
Thats when Apple will release Mac OSX for PC’s, and Steve will get the Noble Peace prize . .. . . .
You just foresaw “one last thing…..” 2012