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Researchers predict worm that eats the Internet in 15 minutes
Reprinted
From: NetworkWorldFusion
ARTICLE ID: 1750
by Ellen Messmer
Computer science researchers are predicting new types of dangerous worms that would be able to infect Web servers, browsers and other software so quickly that the working Internet itself could be taken over in a matter of minutes.
Though still in the realm of theory, the killer worms described in a research paper entitled, "How to Own the Internet in Your Spare Time," are triggering some skepticism but the idea of them is seldom dismissed as outlandish science fiction.
The three authors of the research, published two months ago, present a future where worm-based attacks use "hit lists" to target vulnerable Internet hosts and equipment, such as routers, rather than scanning aimlessly as the last mammoth worm outbreaks, Nimda and Code Red, did last year. And this new breed of worms will carry dangerous payloads to allow automated denial-of-service and file destruction through remote control.
"Code Red and Nimda could have spread faster, and they didn't have powerful payloads," asserts Stuart Staniford, president of Silicon Defense, and co-author of the research paper. The other authors are Vern Paxson, a staff scientist at both the Berkeley-based ICSI Center for Internet Research and Lawrence Berkeley National Lab's network research group, and Nicholas Weaver, a graduate student at the University of California at Berkeley.
Full Story Here: _http://enterprisesecurity.symantec.com/content.cfm?articleID=1750&PID=13657836&EID=288
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