Botnets are secretly installing themselves on thousands or even millions of personal computers, banding these computers together into an unwitting army of zombies, and using the collective power of the dragooned network for spam and committing Internet crimes.
A computer worm that spreads via AOL instant messaging is being used to build an extensive "botnet" of remote-controlled PCs. The goal appears to be to create a huge network of remote-controlled machines, known as a "botnet." Botnets may be used to send out huge quantities of junk e-mail or attack business websites, or create click fraud on Internet ads.
Top U.S. military cyberwarriors recently said that adversaries probe DOD computers within minutes of the systems' coming online. The cyberwarriors described DOD's computer network defense strategy as a battle of attrition in which neither side has an advantage. Retired Army officers and industry officials say Chinese hackers are the primary culprits.
A spat between rival computer worm writers has escalated into a destructive free-for-all, with an assortment of worms infecting thousands of computers worldwide and disrupting several high profile companies.
A group of European computer researchers have demonstrated that it is possible to insert a software virus into radio frequency identification tags, part of a microchip-based tracking technology in growing use in commercial and security applications.
Kevin Warwick, professor of cybernetics at Reading University, warns that advances in neural implants meant that the day will come when computer viruses can infect humans as well as PCs.
The threat from malicious Internet worms is about to explode exponentially, according to an independent security expert who predicted the release of an especially menacing "super worm" in the near future.
The programmers behind the ongoing wave of computer worms and viruses hitting the Internet are starting to take aim at each other, and consumers and businesses around the world are getting caught in the crossfire, according to computer security experts.
Feature length article from the New York Times magazine on the underground community of computer virus writers and the attempts by global law enforcement to control them.
A new device that quarantines different portions of a computer network could stop worms and viruses infecting an entire company once they have breached its perimeter defences.