Website virus trap nipped in the bud overnight

Web surfers are no longer playing Russian roulette each time they visit a website, security researchers say, now that a far-reaching internet attack has been disarmed.
The attack, which had turned some websites into points of digital infection, was nipped in the bud on Friday, when internet engineers managed to shut down a Russian server that had been the source of malicious code. Compromised websites are still attempting to infect web surfers' PCs by referring them to the server in Russia but that computer can no longer be reached.

Still, web surfers should take precautions, as the internet underground is increasingly using this type of attack as a way to get by network defences and infect officer workers' and home users' computers.

"This stops the problem for the short term," said Alfred Huger, senior director of engineering for security company Symantec. "However, it just takes a new culprit to come along and do the same thing all over again."

The attack worked by infecting some websites so that when net surfers visited those sites, they were redirected to the Russian server, which downloaded software onto surfers' PCs. That software could be used by a remote attacker to control those computers. It's unclear what the attackers' motivation may have been. Some have speculated that the purpose could have been spam distribution.