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IM Worms Get Smackdown On PCs
John Stith
Staff Writer
2006-03-08
 Insider Reports RSS Feed
The worms are everywhere and right now, one place they're coming from is instant messengers. Both Microsoft's and AOL's IM needed a good wormer to fix their problems. These worms are deleting files and hijacking computers. Not good.
The Spanish worm, Hotmatom, is making its way through computers and Symantec rates the worm a 2 on a 1 to 5 scale used to rate various malware threats like Trojans, viruses and of course worms. This little worm hits through Microsoft's IM.
Apparently, the message shows up warning of a "very dangerous virus" detected on the system with a link for a corrective patch. The link installs the worm. The worm goes to delete files at the root levels and takes the deleted file names for copies of itself.
Apparently it also tags Hotmail email messages sent with the link also. The messages go out in both Spanish and English.
Another little bugger called Maniccum goes through both the MSN"s IM and AIM. This one opens a backdoor and disables security programs, including antivirus and firewall software.
The backdoor opens for commands from IRC and they can do all the standard stuff including updates, file access and even more naughty bits of code which can be used to launch denial of service attacks.
Watch out, be careful and keep your stuff updated.
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Tag: Worms
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About the Author:
John is a staff writer for SecurityProNews covering cyber security.
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