The Waledac botnet has added a new refinement, it seems. The spam it sends out is getting craftier, using IP addresses to customize alarming messages purportedly about a local terrorist bombing to entice recipients to download its malware. From TrendMicro, which has full details and screenshots of the problem, comes a sample of these dire warnings: At least 12 people have been killed and more than 40 wounded in a bomb blast near market in (your local town). Authorities suggested that explosion was caused by “dirty” bomb. Police said the bomb was detonated from close by using ... more

As Valentine’s Day approaches, further warnings of holiday-themed virus attacks continue. McAfee is warning of a “cute puppy” lure to download malware connected to the Waledac botnet (click the link to see the photo of the puppies): Following our warning, last week, of the possible scams related to the approaching Valentine’s Day, it’s no surprise that today we’ve seen another new Valentine theme come up–hosted on the fast-fluxing Waledac botnet. If a user were to follow the link in these spam emails–and please don’t do that!–a web site like the following would appear: [image of two cute puppies] A ... more

Storm, the botnet thought to have disappeared from the web months ago, is back. Apparently the people behind it were using that time to improve their code, and it has now reappeared with a new name — Waledac (or Waled). From a recent article in Dark Reading: Storm all but disappeared off of the grid last year, basically going dormant in mid-September after its last major spam campaign in July — a “World War III” scam. In October, researchers started to write off Storm, at least in the short term. But now they say the big botnet has reinvented ... more