| Subject: PC users play dodge the hacker |
Author:
Betty
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Date Posted: 11:14:15 06/10/04 Thu
In reply to:
Betty-repost
's message, "PCs infested with 30 pieces of spyware" on 11:05:02 04/16/04 Fri
Using a personal computer these days is like playing virtual dodgeball, but with spam, spyware, and hacker attacks subbing in for the big red ball.
Microsoft's Windows operating system continues to be the prime hacking target, especially since it powers more than 90 percent of the world's PCs and is rife with security holes.
The latest hacker flare-ups are going after the same flaw that the Sasser worm exploited. "Sasser put a spotlight on yet another security hole in Microsoft's Windows computer operating system by knocking down business, government and transportation systems around the globe. Now, in what is becoming a familiar pattern, attackers have launched a steady stream of smaller-scale assaults, looking to break into Windows PCs exhibiting the same vulnerability exploited by Sasser," USA Today reported today. "Attackers are having a field day with this one flaw," Ed Skoudis, co-founder of Internet security firm Intelguardians, told the paper.
More from the article: "The weapons of choice: self-propagating worms, more refined and invasive than the fast-spreading, but otherwise relatively benign, Sasser. Attackers also are increasing deployment of powerful stealth programs, called bots, designed to turn a compromised PC into an obedient soldier awaiting orders to broadcast spam or steal log-ins. What's more, hacking specialists, dubbed bot-herders, are assembling bot armies of thousands of compromised machines and using them to extort protection money from gambling Web sites. They do this by threatening to dispatch a bot army to flood a Web site with bogus requests so it can't transact bets."
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