Is Your Fifth Grader Smarter Than a Laughing Cat?

Have you seen the television show "Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?" I've been thinking about a variation of that question as I consider the newest version of The Storm Worm.

This morning on the "Good Morning, Alabama" show as I discussed the Storm Worm, the weatherman laughed and said "Fortunately, I pretty much stay awy from laughing cats". So do most adults with bank accounts. Ask the question another way though. "Is there anyone who uses your computer who is into laughing cats?"



Twenty of the Twenty-nine anti-virus products I scanned this particular virus with (using Virus Total), did not report an infection. As of this writing, ClamAV, F-Prot, F-Secure, Microsoft, Panda, and Symantec were among the anti-virus programs who said "No Virus Found" to this current malware. ( Click for Results of this scan.)

Previous versions of the Storm Worm have used things such as Greeting Cards, an NFL Game Tracker, Labor Day greetings, Fourth of July greetings, and even Virus Alerts as means to trick people into visiting the malware site.

UAB's Computer Forensics research area will continue to study and document the storm worm until we can find a way to identify the criminals and bring them to justice.

I'll be giving a Public Lecture on Botnets this Friday (October 19th) at the Hull University Center Auditorium.