'Diehard' Virus Variants Flexing Muscle By Ellen Messmer

Network World

January 2, 2008 -- New Windows-based "downloader" malware known as Trojan-Downloader.Win32.Diehard has surged to the top of Kaspersky Lab's "Virus Top Twenty" list for December because of its "explosive propagation," the security firm said Wednesday.

A downloader is a type of malware, which loaded onto a victim's machine, can enable the attacker to download many other types of malicious code to exploit and control it for activities ranging from spam to information theft.

The worst virus of the month in terms of sightings was not the Diehard downloader but a variant on the old NetSky, the worm that is still spreading almost four years after being discovered. Kaspersky reckons that the NetSky.q worm surged to 20% of e-mail traffic last month.  Read more...