Fergie's Tech Blog

Net worms could wriggle around warning systems

Will Knight writes in NewScientist:

Computer worms may soon wriggle around the early warning systems that detect an impending attack, a study by US scientists has revealed.

John Bethencourt and colleagues at the University of Wisconsin in Madison discovered that carefully probing network addresses can reveal the location of hidden sensor networks that alert network operators to an impending attack.

Armed with this information, the creator of a computer worm could create code that bypasses these traps and infects more computers as it spreads. The researchers say the same principle could enable troublemakers to bypass other forms of network defences, including blocks against intruders probing the system and barriers to prevent so-called denial of service attacks.

Several sensor networks provide network administrators with early warning of a possible worm outbreak. These include the SANS Institute's Internet Storm Center based in Maryland, US, the University of Michigan's Internet Motion Sensor and Symantec's DeepSight.

posted by Fergie @ 8/05/2005 10:19:00 AM