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Storm Trojan Spreads Stealthily

There is new malware known as Storm Trojan, according to PC Tools, the leading software provider of utility and security products. This Trojan arrives slyly via e-greeting cards apparently from family members, friends or co-workers.

Researchers at PC Tools are warning about this latest malware. They said users should stop and think again before opening e-mails claiming to have e-cards, as they could let loose the Storm Trojan.

According to the security vendor, the Trojan has possibly originated from the Ukraine or Russia. Further, the malware launches extremely sophisticated attacks that have advanced detection-elusive mechanisms to continue their malicious activity and remain on victims' computers.

Consumers have no shield against these zero-minute strikes, stated the PC Tools' chief threat officer, Kurt Baumgartner. Echannel Line published it on August 14, 2007.

Baumgartner said that the Storm Trojan's e-card do various malicious acts on the infected computer. The malware hunts e-mail addresses to use them to send spam. Further, its new variants install rootkits, the malware that hides on the desktop and changes the performance and function of the victims' PCs.

According to PC Tools, the current versions of Storm Trojan that install rootkits on users' PCs help to execute secret processes and join the victim's PC to a massive peer-to-peer (P2P) network. As a result, while the computer becomes a par of a large botnet, its performance slows down.

Baumgartner further said that the e-card attacks are able to beat commonly used anti-virus solutions thus continue the bot-enabled system as soon as malware is planted and the computer rebooted. These threats also expose the system to remote and backdoor exploits, putting all the data stored on the computer to danger.

Baumgartner reported that the conventional anti-virus products are failing in decrypting, analyzing and effectively applying signatures to block innumerable undetected and constantly changing malware in a very short period of time.

Baumgartner also said that to fight this large volume of next generation malware, there is need for automated systems, as human hands are far less than sufficient. The solution to this is not in signature-based products but in those that are behavioral-based.

Related article: Storm Worm Returns with Follow-Up Attack

» SPAMfighter News - 8/30/2007

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