Current Virus News

This page serves up feeds from various anti-virus vendors and provides\ a bit of static information to help interpret the feed information.

Trend Real-time Virus Map

Below you should see an updated virus map showing current computer virus infections and a listing of the top 10 computer viruses currently being reported by Trend Micro (Java required to show the map)...

Sophos Real-time Virus Info Feed

Symantec Security Info Feed

Some Definitions

Dialers. A dialer is a program that will use the computer's modem to dial various phone numbers. The purpose of this unauthorized dialing can vary but usually is to activate premium cost phone numbers which will show up on the infected user's phone bill or to access pornographic material.

Trojans. A Trojan is a program that runs on a computer as part of or in addition to another program that an infected computer's user is running. Trojans have various functions; some attempt to download and install other malware, some download and show advertisements, some log keystrokes and send that information to locations where the logged user names and passwords are used for unethical purposes. Other Trojans open backdoors into the infected computer so that unethical people can use the infected computers to send out spam. A few Trojans are particularly malicious and attempt to disable the infected system and make data on it unavailable to its owner.

Worms/Viruses. Worms and viruses spread by themselves; a worm spreading by itself and a virus typically needing a host to carry it. The distinction between the two used to be quite distinct but today is something of a grey area. Also, some worms/viruses will also carry a Trojan, making the distinction even more of a grey area. Typically, a worm will be designed to take advantage of some known vulnerability in the operating system so one of the best ways to avoid gettting them is to regularly patch your operating system with the latest critical updates. Get behind and risk getting infected. Many of these types of malware will open a backdoor to the computer so other malware can enter or commands can be given to your computer to perform tasks you probably would not want it performing (e.g., sending spam). Some of these backdoor channels use Internet Relay Chat (IRC). Some of the worms spread via IRC.

Rootkits. A rootkit is basically stealthed malware. Rootkits are programs that typically replace kernel programs and DLL files with malware. Since it's a system file that has been replaced it's much easier to mask and hide the malware process from anti-virus software.