Vulnerability assessment recon worms on the way

James Kay, the chief technology officer at e-mail security company Blackspider Technologies, said Friday that vulnerability assessment worms are quite rare at the moment. However, their number will probably increase as virus writers focus their attacks more carefully and try to avoid detection, he said. "We haven't seen many of them so far, but it's an example of a trend that could accelerate," Kay said. "The idea of reconnaissance fits our view that worms are becoming lower volume and more targeted. In order to produce targeted attacks this information (about the computer's vulnerabilities) would be useful."

The code in vulnerability assessment worms will be different than the code found in flaw scanners such as the open-source Nessus. The worms are also likely to change periodically, as the author remotely alters the malicious code, Kay said.