Virus writers slowing down
Date: October 01, 2006Source: Canada.com
In the past, virus writers seeking fame and attention wrote their malicious programs to spread as quickly and broadly as possible, boasting to colleagues when they managed to cripple hundreds of thousands of computers worldwide in a matter of hours.
But now, many writers are driven by money instead. They write code to turn the computers of unsuspecting individuals into "botnets" - networks for spreading junk e-mail or stealing financial data from others.
Security experts find that some are even taking measures to make sure their programs don't spread too quickly or too broadly, lest they are detected and blocked.
"If they are able to stay active longer, they make more money," said Alfred Huger, senior director of engineering with the security response team at Symantec Corp., a software vendor that issued its twice-annual state-of-security report Monday.
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