Storm Worm Dethroned

[Tami]

Storm worm dethroned by sex botnet
Playing on the insecurities of men is big business, apparently

By Darren Pauli for [url=\"http://www.computerworld.com/\"]ComputerWorld[/url]

February 4, 2008 (Computerworld Australia) Romance is out and sex is in, according to security experts who said the Mega-Dik botnet has ousted the infamous Storm as the most prolific sender of spam.

The Mega-D botnet, which offers discounted sexual enhancement pills to users, delivers a whopping 30 percent more spam than Storm, famous for delivering malicious Valentine's Day cards.

It is the largest botnet on record, according to security firm Marshal Ltd., and has exceeded Storm's highest spam output in September last year by 12%.

Bradley Anstis, vice president of products at U.K.-based Marshal, said Storm-based spam has been cut down to 2% due to its high media attention.

"The Mega-D operation is responsible for huge volumes of spam. Over the past year, spam from this botnet has grown significantly, and it has exceeded Storm's previous spam records without attracting nearly as much media attention," Anstis said.

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