Windows is a hacker's best friend

HACKERS ARE focusing their love and attention on two key Windows' components, according to security boffin Bruce Schneier.

Schneier, who runs an outfit called Counterpane, monitors more than 450 networks in 35 countries.

He told the Sydney Morning Herald that over the last few months, the two attack vectors that he saw in volume were against the Windows DCOM (Distributed Component Object Model) interface of the RPC (remote procedure call) service and against the Windows LSASS (Local Security Authority Subsystem Service).

Schneier said that these two areas were currently hot with virus and worm writers, and he expected this trend to continue.

He is predicting that later this year, users will see more sophisticated worms, especially if they get up early.

"We expect to see more blended threats: exploit code that combines malicious code with vulnerabilities in order to launch an attack. We also expect to see peer-to-peer networking as a vector to launch viruses," Schneier told the Herald.

Another area could be targeted worms, which use Google, for advanced reconnaissance so they don't alert security companies by randomly looking for information.

Schneier said most of the attacks on the Interweb were against fringe industries like online gambling, gaming and pornography, and against offshore networks.

More here. µ