Windows Vista targeted by virus writers

Virus writers have published what are thought to be the first examples of malicious code targeting Microsoft's Windows Vista operating system, around a week after the first beta of the next-generation operating system was released.

Five proof-of-concept viruses that target Monad, the next version of Microsoft's command prompt, were included in a recently published virus writing magazine, according to Mikko Hyppönen, the director of antivirus research at F-Secure.

Monad is a command line interface and scripting language that is similar to Unix shells such as BASH, but is based on object-oriented programming and the .Net framework. It was initially expected in Vista, but Microsoft hinted a couple of months ago that it is unlikely to be ready for initial versions of the Vista client or server. However, Monad will be included in Exchange 12, the next version of Microsoft's collaboration server due in the second half of 2006. amigo: Be sure to check out Mikko's keynote presentation on Mobile Malware at HITBSecConf2005 - Malaysia