SJ Mercury/AP: Malicious program embedded on home computers linked to Internet

[ Thanks to George
Mitchell for this link. ]

“The FBI will meet with experts from a security company
Friday to discuss the firm’s discovery that hackers have embedded a
malicious program disguised as a movie clip on 2,000 commercial and
home computers, positioning themselves to launch an attack designed
to shut down Web sites.”

“The problem, detected by a security firm that does work for the
Justice Department, demonstrates the growing vulnerability that
home computer users face as they begin to purchase permanent,
high-speed connections to the Internet. Without special software to
protect them, Internet surfers using cable modem and digital
subscriber lines are easy prey.”

“Anybody who is directly connected to the Internet through
cable modems or DSL is extremely susceptible to these back-door
programs. We have seen many, many attacks coming on to those
people’s machines,” said Vincent Weafer, director of Symantec
Corp.’s Anti-Virus Research Center in Cupertino, Calif. The
hackers, who used the nicknames “Serbian” and “Badman,” tested
their network of infected computers Wednesday night and could
launch an attack at any time, NETSEC said.”

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