Malware

The Cold War may be over, but the global battle over information security is heating up, as U.S. intelligence experts struggle to fend off relentless cyber attacks from China and Russia.

The notorious Storm worm trojan has continued its holiday-themed onslaught with a massive wave of "love" notes that attempt to deliver a poison kiss to a recipient's PC in the form of malicious code.

Script-based attacks that cycle through multiple exploits and target trusted websites, increasingly sophisticated botnets, and cyberespionage that uses phishing to steal terabytes of data head SANS Institute's Top 10 list of 2008 security menaces.

McAfee researchers are warning of a new MySpace phishing campaign in which users receive "friend" requests that attempt to infect them with assorted malware disguised as a Microsoft update.

A researcher has warned that the Silentbanker trojan apparently is able to circumvent two-factor authorization and inject itself into the middle of ongoing banking transactions, duping bank customers into sending money to attackers while the customer proceeds with what looks like a valid transaction.

End-users should brace themselves for a new wave of phishing emails that reference the recipient's holiday credit card spending pattern during the Christmas season.

Cyberattackers are on the verge of creating trojans that take advantage of social networking websites and Web 2.0 technologies, according to researchers at Finjan.

Fortinet has reported that the notorious Storm Worm botnet was deployed this week to mount phishing attacks on two banks, including international giant Barclays, directing customers to fake sites set up to steal their account log-in and password data.