It seems that there’s a purpose behind the viruses we’ve all been getting: old-fashioned extortion. Reuters reports that extortionists — many thought to come from eastern Europe — have been targetting casinos and retailers, but one recent high-profile victim was the Port of Houston. The attacks, which can cripple a corporate network with a barrage… Read More »
Internet payment system Worldpay is under hack attack from unknown assailants, hitting thousands of online retailers around the world, the BBC reports. The company’s payment and administration networks have been flooded with computer-generated requests, clogging the system and slowing transactions – also known as a “denial-of-service” attack. Worldpay is owned by the Royal Bank of… Read More »
Spammers may be using viruses to attack their enemies. Further to my column on how virus writers and spammers may be in cahoots to deliver spam, The Register reports that anti-spam activists have produced fresh evidence that recent assaults — called Distributed Denial of Service attacks, or DDoS, — on their websites have been enabled… Read More »
Here’s some more evidence that the Sobig worms may be part of something more sinister: Central Command, a provider of PC anti-virus software and services, says its latest incarnation, Sobig.F, “is estimated to have infected millions of systems worldwide and may draw on them to be part of a cyber army focusing a digital assault… Read More »