Make way for the uber worm
Source: Vnunet
A highly effective uber worm, capable of hitting up to 10 million internet hosts in a matter of hours, may be just around the corner. As the SQLsnake worm continues its march - topping the list as the most prolific attacker on the net today with infection attempts hitting the 600,000 mark - experts have warned of the potential for an even greater danger.
A report compiled by Stuart Staniford of security firm Silicon Defense, Vern Paxson of the ICSI centre for internet research and Nicholas Weaver of Berkeley University, claims that: "It is reasonable for an attacker to gain control of a million internet hosts, or perhaps even 10 million.
"Once subverted, these hosts can not only be used to launch massive denial-of-service floods, but also to steal or corrupt great quantities of sensitive information, and confuse and disrupt use of the network in more subtle ways."
