- Image via Wikipedia
Jihad groups may be trying to find new ways to subvert Western culture and excel over America’s businesses and infrastructure. In September 2010 news, there has been a plethora of reports about a virus being spread via spam email, allegedly put forth by a cyber jihad group by the name of Tariq ibn Ziyad (according to the Atlanta security firm, SecureWorks). A director at SecureWorks, Joe Stewart asserts that much of the code between this worm and a prior malware dissemination attempt in August 2010 is very similar. Furthermore, Stewart believes that both malware pieces refer to a computer hacker from Libya, who calls himself Iraq Resistance and is trying to form the jihad group mentioned above. According to one translation of a post made by Iraq Resistance, the goal of the group is to excel over the United States; “to penetrate U.S. agencies belonging to the U.S. Army.” The virus is known as “Here you have” because that’s the subject line of each infected email.
Unfortunately, it seems that this worm did temporarily excel. At several large organizations such as Disney and NASA, email service was delayed, or in most cases, completely arrested for a period of time when the emailed virus managed to excel and spread like hot butter. This worm has a back door constituent and password hijacker, as well as a more advanced capability to evade detection by antivirus software. The worm is able to further excel because it uses a tool that allows it to replicate itself onto other network computers once a network administrator signs onto a corrupted computer.
The good news is that this virus is more of a nuisance than a catastrophe. Generally speaking, the worm is not dangerous because it relies on servers that companies have now disabled. Though it has made communications at several corporations and organizations difficult, the worm has not had a significant effect on overall operations.
