Attempted virus fumbles attack on F-Secure

Flawed file-infector fails to frighten Finns.

A highly buggy intended virus has been found to include an attempt to launch a DDoS attack on the websites of Finnish security firm F-Secure, alongside a suggestion that the firm's head of labs Mikko Hyppönen needs a haircut.

The flawed parasitic malware, which appears to have been written by an old-style hobbyist virus writer and submitted directly to virus labs, corrupts files rather than infecting them and cannot launch its intended payload due to further bugs. The writer claims to be based in Iraq, and the code includes the words 'Sadam Was God' backwards.

Had it worked, infected systems were supposed to have launched their attack on the 28th of the month, and displayed a popup including the words 'Mikko cut ur ponytail', a reference to the company's chief research officer HyppHypponen#246;nen, ranked one of the 50 most important people on the web by PC World earlier this year.

More details, including screenshots, are in a Sophos blog entry here.

06 November 2007

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