Government Technology

2008 Malware Attacks Gather Steam


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January 2, 2008 By

Experts at are warning workers returning from the New Year holidays to be wary of Internet attacks taking advantage of the celebrations. New versions of the Storm worm (also known as Dorf worm) have in recent days posed as Happy New Year e-cards.

The latest malicious e-mail campaigns contain links to Web sites containing malware, and have used a wide variety of subject lines including:

A brand New Year 2008

Blasting New Year 2008

Dance to the New 2008 Year tune

Happy New Year 2008 to the one I love

New Year 2008 Wishes

The New Year has arrived

"Many people will be returning to their desks this morning after a lengthy break for Christmas and New Year to a brimming bundle of unread e-mails. The danger is that the holiday hangover will make them less careful about which messages they click on," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos. "Anyone clicking on a mystery weblink or an unsolicited e-mail attachment is putting their computer at risk of being taken over by hackers for the purposes for illegal ends. Everyone needs to make their New Year's resolution to take computer security more seriously in 2008."

Experts note that this is not the first occasion on which hackers have exploited New Year festivities to try and spread their malware. For instance, three years ago another worm, Wumark-D, distributed itself in an unusual Happy New Year message in the form of a photograph of naked bodies.


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