After the trojan virus attack that saw thousands of bank accounts compromised, we list five of the most infamous computer viruses ever created.

Posted by Greg Hewitt-Long in Virus & AntiVirus News at 10:26

Kern Medical Center experienced a "sickness" of its own after a malicious software virus attacked its computers and servers. After round-the-clock maintenance to restore the computer servers, the hospital will upgrade its anti-virus system to make sure this cyber attack does not happen again. The virus caused the system to slow down so much that it was almost impossible to access patient information.

Posted by Greg Hewitt-Long in Virus & AntiVirus News at 17:17

– July 19, 2010 – ESET, the leader in proactive threat protection, has issued a warning against a worm dubbed Win32/Stuxnet, which threatens users around the globe. Exploiting a vulnerability in Windows® Shell, this dangerous threat is detected by ESET as LNK/Autostart.A. It is used in targeted attacks to penetrate SCADA systems, especially in the United States and Iran. SCADA are supervisory and monitoring systems used in many industries, for instance in power engineering.

Posted by Greg Hewitt-Long in Virus & AntiVirus News at 16:43

Reports out this week from both Cisco and MessageLabs show massive increases in spam and malware promotion via email in direct response to the Football World Cup (Soccer for those that call another game 'football').

MessageLabs reports that 25% if spam globally has a World Cup theme - which is a massive testament to the global appeal of Soccer as a sport - but demonstrates that marketers in business are "event driven" in their marketing themes - so why do we say that malware promoters are similarly driven?

In addition to actual spam, MessageLabs found 45 targeted malware email messages focusing on Brazil; from chemical and finance companies to manufacturing, Brazilian businesses have been under attack so far this June. Pharma-marketers, as always, are also under attack as spammers begin using World Cup information to push redirect codes. Many of these emails offer a World Cup related headline and the body of the email contains a link to a disguised phishing website.

"Right now, spammers are reliant on the massive wave of excitement and expectation that typically surrounds an event like the FIFA World Cup," said MessageLabs Intelligence Senior Analyst, Paul Wood.

Posted by Greg Hewitt-Long in Virus & AntiVirus News at 08:42