Mikko Hypponen
Mikko Hypponen
Mikko Hermanni Hyppönenis a computer security expert and columnist...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionScientist
CountryUnited States of America
alarming appears biggest build competing gangs infected network rate three turning virus worms
There appears to be three different virus writing gangs turning out new worms at an alarming rate -- as if they would be competing who would build the biggest network of infected machines.
alarming appear biggest build competing gangs infected network seem three turning worms
We seem to have a botwar on our hands. There appear to be three different virus-writing gangs turning out new worms at an alarming rate, as if they would be competing who would build the biggest network of infected machines.
alarming appears biggest build competing gangs infected network rate seem three turning worms
We seem to have a botwar on our hands. There appears to be three different virus-writing gangs turning out new worms at an alarming rate  as if they would be competing who would build the biggest network of infected machines.
alarming appears biggest build competing gangs infected network rate seem three turning worms
We seem to have a botwar on our hands, ... There appears to be three different virus-writing gangs turning out new worms at an alarming rate  as if they would be competing who would build the biggest network of infected machines.
alarming appears biggest build competing gangs infected network rate seem three turning worms
We seem to have a botwar on our hands, ... There appears to be three different virus-writing gangs turning out new worms at an alarming rate  as if they would be competing who would build the biggest network of infected machines.
affect automatic backing corrupted daily drive drives external files good hard might network taking thumb
This is nasty, as this is done on all mounted drives, ie. any drive that has a drive letter. So it might affect your USB thumb drives, external hard drives and network drives. Also, if you're taking daily automatic backups, you might end up backing up the corrupted files over good files.
attacks buddy click dozens exploits files image messenger people seen send several since spam tries users using worm
We have seen dozens of different attacks using this vulnerability since Dec. 27. One exploits image files and tries to get users to click on them; another is an MSN Messenger worm that will send the worm to people on your buddy list, and we have seen several spam attacks.
cause detect enter hand intended machines nor politics regardless source
We want to detect malware, regardless of its source or purpose. Politics don't even enter the discussion, nor should they. Any malware, even targeted, can get out of hand and cause 'collateral damage' to machines that aren't the intended victim.
check clicking convincing fairly site surfing
Everything would look fairly convincing if they did some surfing to check out the site before clicking on the link. But they would still get burned.
believe blame break cycle everybody found microsoft next patch release soon test wanting widespread worm
Everybody would like to see the patch as soon as possible, but I can't blame Microsoft for wanting to test it thoroughly. However, if a widespread worm is found before next Tuesday, I do believe they will break the cycle and just release the patch.
computers happened running testing virus
As the virus is not new it's 2 years old this could only have happened if those testing computers were not running any anti-virus programs,
attacks aware moment
At the moment we are not aware of any attacks that would have used this vulnerability.
far files infected locations machines none trying
We've been monitoring the locations of the files that infected machines are now trying to download. So far none of them have activated.
affected bug early fix learned range release wide
We learned of the scanning bug in early December, but because it affected a wide range of our products, we wanted to release a fix for all (of the affected versions) at once.