Computer viruses morphed and migrated in '04, no end in sight say experts

If one were to call the 21st century the Malware Era, he or she would not be entirely wrong. Like self-directed gods, we are creating and directing the evolution of an unimaginable variety of cyber-organisms.

In the past, viruses, worms and Trojan Horses used to be distinct programmes which had very little in common apart from the fact that they are all malware. Now, a trend of hybridization can be seen among malware and each type of programme is being a boost by having the better aspects of the other malware varieties incorporated into it. Virus programmes spawn spam emails which in turn disseminate viruses throughout the web. Surely this is not what Darwin meant by survival of the fittest?
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Symantec: Phel Trojan Horse Attacks Windows XP

A new variety of Trojan Horse has been discovered which, once installed, gives total control of your computer to another user. It is called Phel – a joke as the word is an anagram of the word help, which the programme certainly does not give – and it has been created to take down Windows XP in particular. No Operating System is flawless and this malicious program works by exploiting a single loophole in Internet Explorer's HTML Help Control component. The need to stay up-to-date at all times cannot be over-emphasized.
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Man blames Trojan horse for child pornography

Another major issue associated with cybercrime is that the line between innocent and guilty – so clearly defined in the real world – has thinned. It is much harder than before to clearly define who is guilty and of what as society in general has yet to come to terms with cybercrime. Having pornographic pictures of children is a highly punisheable offence. But this assumes that the person in possession is aware of the fact that he is in possession of such material.

One gentleman in the UK was arrested by the police when such pictures were found in his computer but he was released much later when it was found that a Trojan Horse in his computer has caused this to happen. A sad world ours would be if criminals walked free while innocents were accused of committing crimes.
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