Security Experts Alert for Virus Trouble this Week

Security analysts say while the Neroma worm, which plays on fears surrounding the Sep. 11

date, poses little threat, they are alert for increased virus trouble this week.

Neroma, also known as Icebut, is a mass-mailing worm that spreads via the addresses it culls

out of the address books in infected computers. The subject line reads: It’s near 9/11. But

the message reads: Nice butt baby. It also sports an executable attachment.

Security analysts at both Sophos, Inc. and Central Command, Inc. say Neroma has caused

little trouble so far. The worm, though, has caused concern because of its reference to Sep.

11.

”I guess the reason why Neroma was initially released as an advisory was to start advising

people to be prepared for the Sep. 11 based viruses,” says Steven Sundermeier, vice

president of products and services at Central Command, an anti-virus company based in

Medina, Ohio. ”Since the Sep. 11 attacks, it has been one of the most highly targeted virus

dates. It’s an enticing, easily targeted date. When I say date, I mean on or about or

around.”

As analysts wait to see if the Sep. 11 anniversary draws fire from the virus and hacker

communities, they’re also waiting to see what the next move is from the author of the

destructive Sobig virus family.

The last Sobig variant, Sobig-F, wreaked havoc on businesses around the world last month.

It’s now considered the fastest-spreading virus in the industry’s industry, as well as one

of the most costly viruses on record. Mi2g, a digital risk assessment company based in

London, reports that Sobig-F caused $29.7 billion worth of economic damages. Thanks largely

to that, August has gone down in the books as the worst month in history for digital

attacks. Last month, viruses, along with overt and covert hacker attacks, caused $32.8

billion in economic damages.

What is worrying security experts now is that Sobig-F is about to hit its own deadline. As

of Sep. 10, the virus will stop spreading itself across the Internet. And historically, one

Sobig variant has always followed another, each new variant building on the base of infected

computers and building on the damage caused by the last one.

That leaves the security industry wondering when the next Sobig variant will arrive and what

kind of damage it will wreak.

”We wouldn’t be surprised if it came out in the near future,” says Chris Belthoff, a

security analyst with Sophos, an anti-virus company based in Lynfield, Mass. ”Our posture

is: Hope for the best. Expect the worst.”

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