Hackers work on worm that could hit 10 million sites in hours
Virus writers could "own the internet in their spare time", according to research from three well respected industry experts. A highly effective uber worm, capable of hitting up to 10 million internet hosts in a matter of hours, may be just around the corner.
As the SQLsnake worm continues its march - topping the list as the most prolific attacker on the net today with infection attempts hitting the 600,000 mark - experts have warned of the potential for an even greater danger.
A report compiled by Stuart Staniford of security firm Silicon Defense, Vern Paxson of the ICSI centre for internet research and Nicholas Weaver of Berkeley University, claims that: "It is reasonable for an attacker to gain control of a million internet hosts, or perhaps even 10 million.