Current Computer Virus and Worm Information
It's easy to think that because the news headlines don't contain news of the latest
worm or virus, the problem has gone away. It hasn't. It's just become commonplace,
like traffic accidents.
To demonstrate this, here are a set of RSS feeds from various security vendors
describing current worms or viruses. The price of security is, like the price liberty,
eternal vigilence.
Current Virus/Worm Reports
- Top Ten Viruses/Worms Last Month (from Sophos)
- Sophos New/Current Virus/Worm Alerts
- Virus headlines from The Register
- It's official: Adobe Reader is world's most-exploited app <h4>The new Microsoft</h4>
<p>Adobe's ubiquitous Reader application has replaced Microsoft Word as the program that's most often targeted in malware campaigns, according to figures compiled by F-Secure.?</p><p><a href="http://whitepapers.theregister.co.uk/paper/view/814/oracle-814.pdf?td=rss">What is your recession sales strategy?</a></p>
- Vodafone ships Mariposa-infected HTC Magic <h4>Android phone comes riddled with bots</h4>
<p><strong>Updated</strong> Vodafone has been blamed for shipping Mariposa botnet malware and other nasties on a HTC Magic Android smartphones it supplied.?</p><p><a href="http://whitepapers.theregister.co.uk/paper/view/892/legoland.pdf?td=rss">Case Study: WhatsUp keeps Legoland turnstyles ringing</a></p>
- Energizer Duo software suffers backdoor Trojan bother <h4>Shh, I'm hunting wabbits</h4>
<p>A Trojan backdoor found its way into Energizer Duo USB battery charger software downloads.?</p><p><a href="http://whitepapers.theregister.co.uk/paper/view/696/smartprotection-whitepaper.pdf?td=rss">Offloading malware protection to the cloud</a></p>
- Patchy Windows patching leaves users insecure <h4>Third-party patch treadmill running too fast, warns security firm</h4>
<p>Windows users need to patch their systems an average of every five days to stay ahead of security vulnerabilities, according to a study this week.?</p><p><a href="http://whitepapers.theregister.co.uk/paper/view/892/legoland.pdf?td=rss">Case Study: WhatsUp keeps Legoland turnstyles ringing</a></p>
- Scareware sellers fool Google with file switch <h4>Replacing pdfs with dodgy Flash files</h4>
<p>Cybercrooks have developed a new technique for manipulating search engine results in order to promote the crud they sell, such as scareware packages.?</p><p><a href="http://whitepapers.theregister.co.uk/paper/view/814/oracle-814.pdf?td=rss">What is your recession sales strategy?</a></p>
- Patch Tuesday will leave F1 hole unpatched <h4>Light spring sprinkle follows deluge</h4>
<p>Microsoft is planning just two bulletins next week, covering vulnerabilities rated only as "important", as part of this month's Patch Tuesday.?</p><p><a href="http://whitepapers.theregister.co.uk/paper/view/696/smartprotection-whitepaper.pdf?td=rss">Offloading malware protection to the cloud</a></p>
- MS confirms 'F1 to pwn' IE bug <h4>Looking for help can be dangerous</h4>
<p>Microsoft has confirmed that an unpatched Internet Explorer vulnerability makes it potentially dangerous to press F1 if you are running earlier versions of Windows.?</p><p><a href="http://whitepapers.theregister.co.uk/paper/view/696/smartprotection-whitepaper.pdf?td=rss">Offloading malware protection to the cloud</a></p>
- How FBI, police busted massive botnet <h4>12m zombie machines run by 3 admins</h4>
<p><strong>Analysis</strong> More details have emerged about a cybercrime investigation that led to the takedown of a botnet containing 12m zombie PCs and the arrest of three alleged kingpins who built and ran it.?</p><p><a href="http://whitepapers.theregister.co.uk/paper/view/892/legoland.pdf?td=rss">Case Study: WhatsUp keeps Legoland turnstyles ringing</a></p>
- WoW authenticators bypassed by middlemen hackers <h4>Your shiny weapons are no good here</h4>
<p>Crooks have developed a man-in-the-middle-attack designed to circumvent authentication kit used by dedicated <em>World of Warcraft</em> gamers.?</p><p><a href="http://whitepapers.theregister.co.uk/paper/view/814/oracle-814.pdf?td=rss">What is your recession sales strategy?</a></p>
- Qualys crawls into the malware scanning biz <h4>Friendly robots provide drive-by download alerts</h4>
<p>Qualys is inviting sys admins to sign up to a new free service, QualysGuard Malware Detection, which provides alerts about drive-by-download attacks and malicious scripts on monitored websites.?</p><p><a href="http://whitepapers.theregister.co.uk/paper/view/814/oracle-814.pdf?td=rss">What is your recession sales strategy?</a></p>
- Hackers go on Tory-bothering spree <h4>Dave's websites made to spew 'Vote Labour' spam</h4>
<p>Conservative party websites have been attacked by mischievous hackers over the weekend, who defaced some of the sites and sent spam messages from others urging people to "vote Labour".?</p><p><a href="http://whitepapers.theregister.co.uk/paper/view/814/oracle-814.pdf?td=rss">What is your recession sales strategy?</a></p>
- Hordes of new threats ahead for mobile networks <h4>Faked femtocells will eff up your ess</h4>
<p>Malware on smartphones is just the first in a series of new security threats for mobile networks ushered in by the embrace of internet technologies, according to mobile phone encryption firms.?</p><p><a href="http://whitepapers.theregister.co.uk/paper/view/814/oracle-814.pdf?td=rss">What is your recession sales strategy?</a></p>
- Another NHS hospital stricken with Conficker virus <h4>Social healthcare disease</h4>
<p><strong>Analysis</strong> The infamous Conficker worm has infected yet another NHS facility.?</p><p><a href="http://whitepapers.theregister.co.uk/paper/view/696/smartprotection-whitepaper.pdf?td=rss">Offloading malware protection to the cloud</a></p>
- Almost 2,500 firms breached in ongoing hack attack <h4>Zeus and Waledac unite in global botnet</h4>
<p>Criminal hackers have penetrated the networks of almost 2,500 companies and government agencies in a coordinated campaign that began 18 months ago and continues to steal email passwords, login credentials, and other sensitive data to this day, a computer security company said.?</p><p><a href="http://whitepapers.theregister.co.uk/paper/view/696/smartprotection-whitepaper.pdf?td=rss">Offloading malware protection to the cloud</a></p>
- Undead botnets blamed for big rise in email malware <h4>Grave concern over reanimated cyber-corpses</h4>
<p>Malicious spam volumes increased dramatically in the back half of 2009, reaching three billion messages per day, compared to 600 million messages per day in the first half of 2009. But this is still a tiny fraction of the estimated global spam volume, thought to be about 200 billion messages per day.?</p><p><a href="http://whitepapers.theregister.co.uk/paper/view/892/legoland.pdf?td=rss">Case Study: WhatsUp keeps Legoland turnstyles ringing</a></p>
- Surprise Adobe update grapples with critical flaws <h4>Reader, I pwned him</h4>
<p>Adobe published an out-of-sequence update for its Reader and Acrobat software packages on Tuesday that tackles a brace of serious flaws.?</p><p><a href="http://whitepapers.theregister.co.uk/paper/view/859/atth0s1n.pdf?td=rss">The power of collaboration within unified communications</a></p>
- Kaspersky defends false detection experiment <h4>Claws in copy cat dust-up</h4>
<p>Kaspersky Lab has defended its handling of a controversial experiment criticised by some as a marketing exercise of questionable technical value.?</p><p><a href="http://whitepapers.theregister.co.uk/paper/view/859/atth0s1n.pdf?td=rss">The power of collaboration within unified communications</a></p>
- Upstart crimeware wages turf war on mighty Zeus bot <h4>All your bots belong to us</h4>
<p>Purveyors of a new botnet toolkit are touting a feature aimed at aspiring cybercriminals: the opportunity to commandeer computers already compromised by an established crimeware package known as Zeus.?</p><p><a href="http://whitepapers.theregister.co.uk/paper/view/892/legoland.pdf?td=rss">Case Study: WhatsUp keeps Legoland turnstyles ringing</a></p>
- Leaky anti-virus defences letting malware through <h4>Spanky new scanners no longer cutting it</h4>
<p>Even users running up-to-date anti-virus software still get infected with malware, according to stats from an online malware scanning service.?</p><p><a href="http://whitepapers.theregister.co.uk/paper/view/859/atth0s1n.pdf?td=rss">The power of collaboration within unified communications</a></p>
- ZeuS tracker shrinks takedowns from days to minutes <h4>Search and destroy</h4>
<p>A site dedicated to tracking the infamous ZeuS botnet is celebrating its first birthday.?</p><p><a href="http://whitepapers.theregister.co.uk/paper/view/814/oracle-814.pdf?td=rss">What is your recession sales strategy?</a></p>
- Fake Firefox site bundles undead adware <h4>Zango crapware rises from the grave</h4>
<p>Adware slingers have taken advantage of the buzz around the latest version of Firefox to establish a fake browser download site.?</p><p><a href="http://whitepapers.theregister.co.uk/paper/view/859/atth0s1n.pdf?td=rss">The power of collaboration within unified communications</a></p>
- Manchester cops recover from Conficker <h4>Strangeways, here we come</h4>
<p>Manchester police were once again able to run inquiries on the Police National Computer on Wednesday morning, after techies purged a Conficker worm infection from the force's network.?</p><p><a href="http://whitepapers.theregister.co.uk/paper/view/697/wp01-webthreats-080303-uk.pdf?td=rss">Web threats: Why conventional protection doesn't work</a></p>
- Manchester cops clobbered by Conficker <h4>PCs' PCs still unplugged from PNC</h4>
<p>Greater Manchester Police's computer network has been infected by the infamous Conficker worm, leaving beat cops unable to run computer checks on suspected criminals and vehicles for the last three days.?</p><p><a href="http://whitepapers.theregister.co.uk/paper/view/814/oracle-814.pdf?td=rss">What is your recession sales strategy?</a></p>
- Security firms plot revamp to minimise false alarms <h4>Whitelisted addresses to reside in heavenly cloud</h4>
<p><strong>Analysis</strong> Increased incidents of false positives have encouraged anti-virus firms to re-evaluate their signature update process.?</p><p><a href="http://whitepapers.theregister.co.uk/paper/view/859/atth0s1n.pdf?td=rss">The power of collaboration within unified communications</a></p>
- Symantec slaps Trojan alert against Spotify <h4>Scanner turns song software slayer</h4>
<p>Symantec has apologised over a cock-up that resulted in the incorrect classification of streaming music service Spotify as a Trojan on Thursday.?</p><p><a href="http://whitepapers.theregister.co.uk/paper/view/696/smartprotection-whitepaper.pdf?td=rss">Offloading malware protection to the cloud</a></p>
- Phantom app risk used to bait scareware trap <h4>The non-threat with no name</h4>
<p>Scareware scammers are staking advantage of rumours about an "unnamed app" that supposedly poses a security risk to Facebook users in order to trick users into sites slinging rogue security software packages.?</p><p><a href="http://whitepapers.theregister.co.uk/paper/view/814/oracle-814.pdf?td=rss">What is your recession sales strategy?</a></p>
- StopBadware morphs into standalone non-profit <h4>Anti-Malware Inc backed by Google and Mozilla</h4>
<p>StopBadware, the anti-malware project started four years ago at Harvard University?s Berkman Center for Internet and Society, has spread its wings and become a standalone nonprofit corporation.?</p><p><a href="http://whitepapers.theregister.co.uk/paper/view/859/atth0s1n.pdf?td=rss">The power of collaboration within unified communications</a></p>
- Aurora-style attacks swiped oil find data from energy giants <h4>Social networks implicated in planning Google assault</h4>
<p>At least three US oil giants were hit by cyberattacks aimed at stealing secrets, in the months before the high-profile Operation Aurora attacks against Google, Adobe et al in December.?</p><p><a href="http://whitepapers.theregister.co.uk/paper/view/859/atth0s1n.pdf?td=rss">The power of collaboration within unified communications</a></p>
- Kaspersky update slaps Trojan warning on Google Adsense <h4>Tsk, you and your false positives</h4>
<p><strong>Updated</strong> An update to Kaspersky's popular anti-virus software on Monday falsely identified Google AdSense as a malicious script.?</p><p><a href="http://whitepapers.theregister.co.uk/paper/view/814/oracle-814.pdf?td=rss">What is your recession sales strategy?</a></p>
- Slovak biker spat linked to rare destructive worm <h4>Hi-tech equivalent of tyre-slashing spreads globally</h4>
<p>A rare example of a destructive computer worm has been spotted on the web.?</p><p><a href="http://whitepapers.theregister.co.uk/paper/view/859/atth0s1n.pdf?td=rss">The power of collaboration within unified communications</a></p>
- Exeter Uni goes offline to fight mystery malware <h4>Great late coursework excuse</h4>
<p>The University of Exeter took the unusual step of temporarily taking its network down this week in response to a virulent virus outbreak.?</p><p><a href="http://whitepapers.theregister.co.uk/paper/view/814/oracle-814.pdf?td=rss">What is your recession sales strategy?</a></p>
- New avast freebie security scanner aims to keel-haul MS <h4>Free 5.0 tweaked to work faster on multiple cores</h4>
<p><strong>Updated</strong> A new version of avast aims to offer users of free anti-malware technology faster running protection against the latest hacking attacks, while offering alternatives to AVG and Microsoft Security Essentials.?</p><p><a href="http://whitepapers.theregister.co.uk/paper/view/814/oracle-814.pdf?td=rss">What is your recession sales strategy?</a></p>
- IE zero-day used in Chinese cyber assault on 34 firms <h4>Operation Aurora unveiled</h4>
<p><strong>Updated</strong> Hackers who breached the defenses of Google, Adobe Systems and at least 32 other companies used a potent vulnerability in all versions of Internet Explorer to carry out at least some of the attacks, researchers from McAfee said Thursday.?</p><p><a href="http://whitepapers.theregister.co.uk/paper/view/859/atth0s1n.pdf?td=rss">The power of collaboration within unified communications</a></p>
- Security experts dissect Google China attack <h4>Howdunnit mystery</h4>
<p><strong>Analysis</strong> The hacking attacks against Google that prompted the search engine giant to consider pulling out of the country are far more frequent than is commonly thought.?</p><p><a href="http://whitepapers.theregister.co.uk/paper/view/696/smartprotection-whitepaper.pdf?td=rss">Offloading malware protection to the cloud</a></p>
- Trojan pr0n dialers make comeback on mobile phones <h4>By popular demand</h4>
<p>After taking a long hiatus, trojan dialers that can rack up thousands of dollars in charges are back by popular demand.?</p><p><a href="http://whitepapers.theregister.co.uk/paper/view/697/wp01-webthreats-080303-uk.pdf?td=rss">Web threats: Why conventional protection doesn't work</a></p>
- Facebook snuggles with McAfee in security spree <h4>Symantec unlikely to like updated relationship status</h4>
<p>Facebook has partnered with McAfee to offer users of the social networking site a free six-month subscription to its security software.?</p><p><a href="http://whitepapers.theregister.co.uk/paper/view/814/oracle-814.pdf?td=rss">What is your recession sales strategy?</a></p>
- Y2.01K bug trips up Symantec <h4>Schoolboy error causes red faces</h4>
<p>Symantec's Endpoint Protection Manager has been hit by a classic date bug and fell over at the end of the year, accepting no definition updates dated since then.?</p><p><a href="http://whitepapers.theregister.co.uk/paper/view/696/smartprotection-whitepaper.pdf?td=rss">Offloading malware protection to the cloud</a></p>
- Adobe Reader vuln hit with unusually advanced attack <h4>Eight more days to go</h4>
<p>With more than a week until Adobe is scheduled to patch a critical vulnerability in its Reader and Acrobat applications, online thugs are targeting it with an unusually sophisticated attack.?</p><p><a href="http://whitepapers.theregister.co.uk/paper/view/892/legoland.pdf?td=rss">Case Study: WhatsUp keeps Legoland turnstyles ringing</a></p>
- TJX sniffer author jailed for two years <h4>First of the gang</h4>
<p>The malware coder who wrote the sniffer program used in the infamous TJX credit card heist has been jailed for two years.?</p><p><a href="http://whitepapers.theregister.co.uk/paper/view/892/legoland.pdf?td=rss">Case Study: WhatsUp keeps Legoland turnstyles ringing</a></p>
- iPhone worms can create mobile botnets <h4>Paranoid, and not just about Android</h4>
<p>A detailed analysis of the most malign in a recent spate of iPhone worms points to future mobile botnet risks.?</p><p><a href="http://whitepapers.theregister.co.uk/paper/view/859/atth0s1n.pdf?td=rss">The power of collaboration within unified communications</a></p>
- WinAmp update fades out critical media player flaws <h4>This one goes up to 5.57</h4>
<p>WinAmp users ought to upgrade following the discovery of multiple security vulns affecting the popular media player.?</p><p><a href="http://whitepapers.theregister.co.uk/paper/view/892/legoland.pdf?td=rss">Case Study: WhatsUp keeps Legoland turnstyles ringing</a></p>
- Scareware scammers exploit Brittany Murphy's death <h4>Cyber footpads poison more interweb searches</h4>
<p>Actress Brittany Murphy's sudden death, just like Michael Jackson's untimely demise before her, has quickly been exploited by scareware scammers.?</p><p><a href="http://whitepapers.theregister.co.uk/paper/view/697/wp01-webthreats-080303-uk.pdf?td=rss">Web threats: Why conventional protection doesn't work</a></p>
- Film review site hacked to spew malicious PDFs <h4>Aintitcool.com attack isn't</h4>
<p>Hackers on Thursday exploited a vulnerability on <a href="http://aintitcool.com/" target="_blank">Ain't It Cool News</a> that redirected anyone visiting the movie review site to a server containing a malicious Adobe Reader file.?</p><p><a href="http://whitepapers.theregister.co.uk/paper/view/859/atth0s1n.pdf?td=rss">The power of collaboration within unified communications</a></p>
- Conficker jams up developing interwebs <h4>Uber-botnet already used to sling scareware</h4>
<p>The infamous Conficker worm has disproportionally affected computer systems in the developing world, according to new research.?</p><p><a href="http://whitepapers.theregister.co.uk/paper/view/697/wp01-webthreats-080303-uk.pdf?td=rss">Web threats: Why conventional protection doesn't work</a></p>
- Adobe: critical Acrobat flaw fix 4 weeks away <h4>Batten down the hatches</h4>
<p>Users of Adobe's Acrobat and Reader programs have a full four weeks to fret over a critical flaw that's being exploited in the wild to install malware on vulnerable machines.?</p><p><a href="http://whitepapers.theregister.co.uk/paper/view/697/wp01-webthreats-080303-uk.pdf?td=rss">Web threats: Why conventional protection doesn't work</a></p>
- Google Doodle poisoned by scareware slingers <h4>How do you say ne'er do wells in Esperanto?</h4>
<p>Scareware slingers have begun hiding links to rogue anti-virus sites behind Google Doodle.?</p><p><a href="http://whitepapers.theregister.co.uk/paper/view/859/atth0s1n.pdf?td=rss">The power of collaboration within unified communications</a></p>
- Attacks spread malware with help from AppleInsider <h4>And lawyers.com. And many more</h4>
<p>Malware purveyors are exploiting web vulnerabilities in appleinsider.com, lawyer.com, news.com.au and a dozen other sites to foist rogue anti-virus on unsuspecting netizens.?</p><p><a href="http://whitepapers.theregister.co.uk/paper/view/859/atth0s1n.pdf?td=rss">The power of collaboration within unified communications</a></p>
- Potent malware link infects almost 300,000 webpages <h4>Johnny Come Lately</h4>
<p>A security researcher has identified a new attack that has infected almost 300,000 webpages with links that direct visitors to a potent cocktail of malicious exploits.?</p><p><a href="http://whitepapers.theregister.co.uk/paper/view/892/legoland.pdf?td=rss">Case Study: WhatsUp keeps Legoland turnstyles ringing</a></p>
- Top security firm: Default Windows 7 less secure than Vista <h4>Reviled UAC nagware finds a defender</h4>
<p>Windows 7 is less secure out-of-the box than Vista, despite Redmond's protestations to the contrary, a top security firm has claimed.?</p><p><a href="http://whitepapers.theregister.co.uk/paper/view/696/smartprotection-whitepaper.pdf?td=rss">Offloading malware protection to the cloud</a></p>
- Scareware slingers flaunt fake MS endorsement <h4>Black-hat scripting malfeasance</h4>
<p>Scareware wronguns have developed a neat but evil piece of coding trickery designed to dupe prospective marks into believing that Microsoft is endorsing their worthless scamware.?</p><p><a href="http://whitepapers.theregister.co.uk/paper/view/814/oracle-814.pdf?td=rss">What is your recession sales strategy?</a></p>
- Sophos Virus Hoax List (Not all virus warnings are genuine!)
Note that it isn't quite as bad (or as good) as it looks:
- different anti-virus software vendors may have different names for the same virus,
- variants of older viruses still pose a major threat to machines not running
anti-virus software,
- the threat rating given to a virus may change over time as it propagates more
widely or its effects are more fully understood.
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