Storm Worm More Powerful Than Top Supercomputers

Stony Stevenson writes to mention that some security researchers are claiming that the Storm Worm has grown so massive that it could rival the world's top supercomputers in terms of raw power. "Sergeant said researchers at MessageLabs see about 2 million different computers in the botnet sending out spam on any given day, and he adds that he estimates the botnet generally is operating at about 10 percent of capacity. 'We've seen spikes where the owner is experimenting with something and those spikes are usually five to 10 times what we normally see,' he said, noting he suspects the botnet could be as large as 50 million computers. 'That means they can turn on the taps whenever they want to.'"

Comments

STILL NOT A WORM

[Dibblah]

,ad88888ba          88  88  88        888b      88
d8"     "8b  ,d     ""  88  88        8888b     88                ,d
Y8,          88         88  88        88 `8b    88                88
`Y8aaaaa,  MM88MMM  88  88  88        88  `8b   88   ,adPPYba,  MM88MMM
  `"""""8b,  88     88  88  88        88   `8b  88  a8"     "8a   88
        `8b  88     88  88  88        88    `8b 88  8b       d8   88
Y8a     a8P  88,    88  88  88        88     `8888  "8a,   ,a8"   88,
"Y88888P"   "Y888   88  88  88        88      `888   `"YbbdP"'    "Y888

                db
               d88b
              d8'`8b
             d8'  `8b
            d8YaaaaY8b
           d8""""""""8b
          d8'        `8b
         d8'          `8b

I8,        8        ,8I
`8b       d8b       d8'
"8,     ,8"8,     ,8"
  Y8     8P Y8     8P   ,adPPYba,   8b,dPPYba,  88,dPYba,,adPYba,
  `8b   d8' `8b   d8'  a8"     "8a  88P'   "Y8  88P'   "88"    "8a
   `8a a8'   `8a a8'   8b       d8  88          88      88      88
    `8a8'     `8a8'    "8a,   ,a8"  88          88      88      88
     `8'       `8'      `"YbbdP"'   88          88      88      88

Yes, nasty ASCII art.

Just in case you hadn't guessed (which it appears that the meeedia has not) - This Is A Trojan. Which means that it's Powered By Stupid People (tm). A worm would be Powered By Stupid Programmers (tm).

The Storm Worm is in fact already defined - It was an IIS worm. Please, feel free to look at the reputable AV lists.