Anxiety Mounts As China Builds Virus Troops

Atak.B’s claim to fame: It tries to shut down the tools antivirus pros use to build virus signatures. Beyond that, atak.b is just the latest email-borne worm that tries to kill your virus software before grabbing your address list then launching a denial of service attack.

Problem is, atak.b shows that virus writers are working the problem… often with state sponsors. China’s efforts are well documented:

• Taiwan’s National Center for High-Performance Computing: “PLA military doctrine stresses computer virus attacks and sabotage of communication systems as a key to successful asymmetric war against its enemy.”