Al-Qaeda link in new Atak worm
The 'smart' worm that sleeps when scanned has sprouted a variant that appears to be written by someone claiming links to Al-Qaeda, according to antivirus firm BitDefender.
A second variant of the Atak worm, which goes to sleep to avoid detection by antivirus software, has been linked to an Al-Qaeda sympathiser who once threatened to release a powerful worm if the US attacked Iraq.
Romanian antivirus firm Bitdefender claims the worm's author has signed his nickname into an encrypted part of the worm's code.
Mihai Radu, communications manager at BitDefender, told ZDNet UK that the virus, discovered on Friday, is signed by Melhacker, which is the moniker of a Malaysian-based coder called Vladimor Chamlkovic, who in 2002 threatened to release an "uber-worm" if the US attacked Iraq.
Mikko Hypponen, director of antivirus research at Finnish company F-Secure, said it is possible that Melhacker wrote Atak.B but that doesn't mean it has anything to do with Al-Qaeda.
"I think there's no proof anywhere that Melhacker is in any way associated with Al-Qaeda. He might want to be, though," said Hypponen.
