ID: IRCNE201208157382
Date: 2012-08-17
According to "techworld", if your Windows-based computer suddenly won't boot up, it could be the evil doing of malicious malware that deletes the contents of your computer - farewell, documents, pictures and videos - and then prevents reboot.
Just spotted in the wild, it's being called either Disttrack (McAfee's name) or the Shamoon attacks (Symantec's), and researchers say it's notable because it's been a long while since they've noticed malware going to such lengths to truly make someone's life miserable in this way by deleting personal files.
"Ten years ago we used to see purely malicious threats like this," muses Symantec researcher Liam O Murchu. He said there's some uncertainty at this point about exactly how the malware spreads - it's an executable so it could likely arrive as an email attachment that when opened infects a vulnerable computer - but one thing is certain: If your computer gets hit and you can't reboot, you have a real problem. So far, there's some indication that Shamoon may be part of a targeted attack against the energy sector companies.
So far, though, Shamoon - Symantec calls it that because of strings found in the malware folders saying that, as well as "Arabian Gulf" - doesn't appear to be something that's being blasted out to a very wide audience. In fact, Shamoon malware seems to be aimed at very specific targets.
At this point, Symantec thinks it's possible that oil companies in the energy sector could be intended targets of Shamoon.
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