Computer Virus Conflicker Found on Medical Equipment
April 30, 2009
It seems that biological viruses aren’t the only thing worrying hospitals. In an ironic twist, several critical pieces of medical equipment were found to be infected with the Conflicker worm.
This is a surprising case of virus mutation. Although the Conflicker worm seemed to be devoid of a malicious payload, it is the first reported to have infected such a wide range of systems. This raises the stakes for the cybersecurity game, because the next virus could literally kill someone.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-10226448-83.html
http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/04/30/2127211&art_pos=5
University of Missouri Victimized by Spammers
April 30, 2009
A former student of the University of Missouri and three others have been indicted by a federal grand jury as a result of investigation into a nationwide e-mail Spam ring which targeted universities across the United States. The former student allegedly used the University’s own infrastructure to deliver the e-mails, and used a malicious script to harvest e-mails from the University database. The Spam ring had several employees and managed to rack up an estimated $4.1 million in sales.
The scale and sophistication of this spam ring was relatively minor compared to veterans in the spam game, and the fact these small-time crooks were able to sell millions of dollars worth of products boggles the mind. The University of Missouri effectively paid for the bandwidth and resources to do this, and it is likely the spammers would do it again if given the chance. Given the cost of fighting spam compared to the potential gain, the future of cybersecurity will be fought on the battlefield of profitability.
http://news.findlaw.com/prnewswire/20090429/29apr20091736.html
