Internet security experts on Friday announced that they have discovered a massive botnet attack, which has infected more than 75, 000 computers and stole information from corporations and government agencies for the past several days.
In a data released by the NetWitness Corp, at least 2, 400 organizations and companies, including top-ranked financial institutions and energy firms, have been infiltrated by the botnet virus, which passes the infection from one computer to another.
NetWitness, the security firm that has discovered the attacks, said that the unusual thing about the virus was not the way it happened but the fact that they were able to discover it.
For their protection, the security firm did not disclose the name of the companies that has been compromised the attacks. But the company said that several federal agencies were also included.
Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal has released several names of the companies whose computers were infected by the botnet virus including Merch & Co., Paramount Pictures, Cardinal Health, and Juniper Networks Inc.
Sought for comment, Merck and Cardinal Health both said that only one computer in each company has been infected by the botnet virus, adding that no sensitive data or personal information of their clients have been taken.
The other companies were still unavailable for comment.
Meanwhile, NetWitness said that the attacks also has similar characteristic making it easier to trace those that has been infected. The security firm also said that unlike the recent Google attack, the botnet virus has no specific target.
It will be recalled that cyberattacks against human-rights activists, through Gmail service, was launched by hackers originating from China. The incident has led to the pull out of Google from the country.
NetWitness Chief executive officer Amit Yoran, who is also the former cyber security chief at the US Department of Homeland Security, said that the botnet is a huge threat to the people using and relying on computers.
He also revealed that the origin of the attacks were from Eastern Europe and China. But he said that they were not certain if the hackers were still in the identified areas.
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