Warezov Worm Continues To Spread Malware

November 2006 was a season of flurry. It was the third month in succession with not only a new worm in Kaspersky's rankings, but the entire 'Top Twenty' is in a state of forceful change. The 'Warezov' family of worms created the greatest havoc in November, just as they did in October the same year.

'Stration' (also referred as 'Stratio' or 'Warezov') continues to be active since its first appearance in a massive worldwide e-mail-borne malware attack. As soon as the code infects a PC, it connects to a website where it downloads malware. It then installs the malicious software and hunts for e-mail addresses stored on the infected computer followed by a spam operation to spread the malware.

According to some views, 'Stration' may have been significantly responsible for the recent spike in global spam. The worm is outstanding because it is being continuously mass-mailed in increasing batches and each time it modifies itself to evade the signature-based products.

'Warezov.gj', a new entrant in November, occupied the first place. The worm was first detected on November 22, 2006 and in only one week it became the most widespread virus on the Internet traffic, accounting considerably over 18%. Only a few worms are known to have such record reproduction rates in the first month of their appearance.

November saw many other worms rise and fall in the charts like a sine curve. These were 'Netsky.q', 'Mytob.t', 'Zafi.b', 'Nyxem.e' that came back to join the list and took more or less middle position in November's 'Top Twenty'.

The December 2006 malware will largely depend on the creators of 'Warezov' worm, said Kaspersky. If they continue to distribute the worm variants, then in January 2007 these worms will share a minimum of 30% of all malicious programs via e-mail. But if the authors of 'Warezov' slacken the speed or get caught, then the old worms mentioned above will get active once again. The 'Warezov' worm causing steep rise in spam was additionally responsible for putting 'phishers' back on the rails.

It is advisable for companies and consumers to be extra vigilant, especially in the holiday season.

Related article: Warezov Botnet Becomes Active After Nine Months

» SPAMfighter News - 12/8/2006