Virus threat as hackers plot new year 'surprise'

[InfoSec News <isn () C4I ORG>]

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/Digital/Update/2001-01/hackers020101.shtml

By Charles Arthur, Technology Editor
2 January 2001

Computer hackers thwarted by the extra vigilance and security of last
year's millennium bug scare are believed to have resumed their
attempts to sabotage companies and organisations this year.

Many firms who have given extra time off to staff who were forced to
work full-time last year in anticipation of the "millennium bug" risk
returning to a crisis this week, according to an international
security company.

Kent Anderson, director of IT security for Control Risks, said: "We
have monitored some discussions on a website where Russian hackers
have been talking about taking advantage of the fact that staffing
will be low during the holiday. We do see this as a security threat."

Another security company, Symantec, has said a new computer virus that
combines the characteristics of two existing ones could wipe hard
discs and render computers unstartable.

Andre Post, an anti-virus researcher at Symantec in the Netherlands,
said: "We have a new threat which is highly destructive and very
infectious."

In the run-up to the millennium, billions of pounds were spent on
checking and rewriting programs and thousands of people were put on
special watch to oversee computer systems but only a few instances
were recorded in which the millennium bug was implicated.

Mr Anderson says that because of the anti-climax, companies are not
expecting any problems this year . He urged companies to "remain
vigilant" but admitted: "We don't know what [the hackers] intend to
do. It may just be defacing sites ... but it only takes one out of 100
who is malicious to really do some harm."

Many companies and governments are still counting the cost of
preparing for the millennium bug though those who encouraged them to
do so insist that it was worthwhile.

Robin Guenier, who headed Taskforce 2000, a government-backed project,
said: "In the UK the total spending over the five years up to the end
of 1999 was probably 25bn. There were people who were saying that the
millennium bug was a con but if that were so, it would have been the
biggest one in the history of mankind. But it wasn't. It was necessary
spending."

ISN is hosted by SecurityFocus.com
---
To unsubscribe email LISTSERV () SecurityFocus com with a message body of
"SIGNOFF ISN".