Give an exploit to script kiddies, and they'll hit every vulnerable host in weeks. Build a worm with it, and it could take days. How long would a superworm take? Try 30 seconds. Brandon Wiley explains superworms and some possible self-defense tools.
Linux administrators see log files full of failed attack attempts when some other platform is subject to a worm attack. Dumb worms might be a nuisance and a waste of bandwidth. But what if worms were a little smarter about which hosts to attack, when to attack and with what exploit? What if a worm developer could update all the running worms, on the fly, with a new exploit?
At South By Southwest, we talked with Brandon Wiley, coordinator of the Tristero project, about the threat of such a "superworm" and what might be done to defend against it. For those of you who didn't make it to South By Southwest, we asked him again.
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