I just read on The Register that we're celebrating an anniversary. According to that post, it's been five years since we first encountered the SoBig-A worm that many experts regard as the turning point for the creation of malware from a form of vandalism to a "for profit" objective:
"While it wasn't until August 2003 that a variant of the malware (SoBig-F) caused disruption on a massive scale, the first iteration of the virus in January began what became a steadily evolution in cybercrime."
I also read that this was the beginning of botnet phenomenon, with all of the later variants designed to distribute "...self-replicating Trojans which created botnets of compromised zombie PCs, useful for the distribution of spam or other nefarious purposes".
Today, the malware is highly advanced; the criminals writing the code for the malware are more skilled and have much more to gain. The opportunities to compromise personal data are more varied, so make sure you take every measure to protect yourself:
- Exercise caution whenever you receive e-mail from an unknown source.
- Even if the sender is known, their computer and address book may have been compromised, so be wary of any messages with embedded programs, zip files, or hyperlinks.
- Ensure your security products are functioning and up to date.
- Apply the necessary hotfixes for your hardware/software to address any security vulnerabilities.
- Protect your personal and financial information. Question any requests for this information no matter how legitimate the source.
I won't wish SoBig-A a happy anniversary, but will remind everyone to stay on their toes because malware and the people who write/distribute it are treating this as big business.
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