War of the Worms

[Mark Holtz]

From ABC News:

'War of the Worms' Spurs Latest Cyber-Attack

The computers that crashed at ABC News and other media outlets may have been caught in the crossfire of a virtual "war of the worms" between rival criminal gangs waging a cyberspace turf war.

The turf? Control of computers like those at ABC News — and maybe yours, too.

FULL ARTICLE HERE (http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=1046002&page=1)

[Richard King]

"MSG TO avs: the first av who detect this worm will be the first killed within the next 24hrs!!!"

"The new dimension is they're making overt threats against the antivirus companies," Curry said.

"If they can shut down the defenses for as many people as possible, then they increase the window in which they can get as many victims as possible."

I really think that this is another case where the death penalty is appropriate. People who do such things, especially those in organized crime as these appear to be, have no usefull purpose in life. They come up with this crap and then post death threats against those who try to protect the end users (you and me) from falling victim to their plans.