02 Feb 2004
Worm wipeout: SCO website disappears as MyDoom attacks, Sophos comments
The W32/MyDoom-A worm has
launched a denial of service attack against the website belonging
to the software company SCO.
Computers infected by W32/MyDoom-A (known as "zombies") are
launching the attack, designed to knock SCO's website (www.sco.com)
off the internet, between 1 and 12 February. Infected computers are
also vulnerable to being hacked, and Sophos recommends affected
users update their anti-virus software and download a disinfection
utility.
"It's hard to say just how many infected computers may have
participated in the attack against SCO's website but it's likely to
be a significant number," said Graham Cluley, senior technology
consultant for Sophos. "The MyDoom worm is a serious problem, but
it is easy to detect, easy to prevent and not difficult to remove.
All users should ensure their computers are properly
protected."
In a statement SCO announced that their website was suffering
from a denial of service attack, and recommended customers and
partners visit an alternative version of their website not affected
by the attack: www.thescogroup.com.
About Sophos
More than 100 million users in 150 countries rely on Sophos as the best protection against complex threats and data loss. Sophos is committed to providing complete security solutions that are simple to deploy, manage, and use and that deliver the industry's lowest total cost of ownership. Sophos offers award-winning encryption, endpoint security, web, email, mobile and network security solutions backed by SophosLabs - a global network of threat intelligence centers.
Sophos is headquartered in Boston, US and Oxford, UK. More information is available at www.sophos.com.