Symantec Lists Top 10 Web Threats in Internet’s History

Security firm Symantec discovered a unique way to mark the 40th birthday of the Internet, which was on September 2, 2009, by releasing the list of 10 most notorious web threats seen ever on the Internet.

As per Symantec's list released on September 4, 2009, the "I Love You" worm that appeared back in 2000 is the No. 1 web threat observed in the history of Internet. Around 50 Million infection of this worm had been reported till May 2000. In order to flush out the attack, the CIA, the British Parliament and the Pentagon all had to take their e-mail systems out of service.

Conficker has been listed as the second topmost web threat. The worm has set up a strong cybercrime infrastructure that spreads all around the world. It allows its masters to remotely install software on compromised systems.

In addition to this, Melissa, which evolved as a big challenge for security experts in 1999, has been placed third. The worm, released on March 26, 1999, outset a period of sophisticated online threats which struck the Internet during 1999-2005.

Moving ahead, the fourth rank holder Slammer was a dynamic worm that affected a large portion of the Internet in January 2003. The aggressiveness of the attack triggered by this worm can be realized by the fact that some nations mistook it as an organized attack targeted at them.

Nimda, a mass-mailing worm that used multiple modes to propagate, became Internet's most widespread worm within 22 minutes. Symantec has ranked it fifth in its list. Code Red, which appeared in 2001, is placed at the sixth slot. Sites infected by this worm mutilated by the phrase "Hacked By Chinese!" The infected hosts amounted to 359,000 when the worm was at its peak.

The seventh-positioned Blaster worm used to trigger a payload which launched a denial-of-service attack on windowsupdate.com. Sasser worm that appeared in 2004 has been placed at the eighth position and the main feature of the virus was that it spread via vulnerable network port.

Next in the list is Storm (released in 2007) that launched denial-of-service attack on www.microsoft.com. Last in the list is Morris (1988) that was created to gauge the size of Internet; however, an error in the worm caused it to infect machines.

Related article: Sentence for American Contractor for Sabotaging Government Navy Computers

» SPAMfighter News - 9/21/2009