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August 30, 2007

Storm Warning!

No, it's all blue skies here this afternoon, but many of your PCs have been hit by a Storm and you might not even know it.

"Storm" is a variant of a work program that infects a Windows-based PC, turning it inot a "zombie." These "zombie" computers become mail servers that can be controlled by the spammer responsible for infecting your computer. Not only can the spammer use your computer to send thousands of e-mail messages for their paying customers, they can also use your PC as part of a DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attack. A DDoS attack is where thousands of zombie-PCs will attempt to access a website simultaneously, forcing the servers to shut down.

What's really nasty about the Storm worm is that its authors are good at social engineering. You've probably seen e-mails over the last few weeks saying "You've received an e-card from a friend" or some such. That's the hook to get you to browse to malware-infested websites and download programs that contain the worm.

This week, it's a different tactic. Instead of the e-card come-on, the Storm guys are sending out e-mails that look like a friend is pointing you to a YouTube video. Naturally you'll be curious, so you click, going to the same malware sites. They try to get you to download a "viewer" which is really the worm.

Don't get ensnared by this sort of social engineering!

Always keep in mind that these worms are put out in the world by professionals, not just kids looking to make a name for themselves in hackerdom. Zombie-bot networks of PCs make their owners millions. They fight dirty, attacking the "white hat" hackers that try to stop them. Use common sense and don't let your PC do their bidding!

Posted by Edward J. Branley at August 30, 2007 12:57 PM

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