Worm Could Break the Web

Mark Bowden, known as Black Hawk Down author, has written a book telling that the Conflicker worm could break the web.
Over 12 million PCs appeared to be infected with the self-updating worm, which got into the core of any PC. Mark Bowden’s recent book called “Worm: The First Digital World War” is telling about how the worm Conficker was discovered, how it is working, and the current programming battle trying to bring down the malware.

The most interesting part is where the book claims that if the malware was used nefariously, it could actually damage the entire world web and everyone sailing in it. In the newspaper interview, Mark Bowden explained that the Conflicker worm controllers were able to use all of the PCs that are connected, turning them into the largest and most powerful cloud ever.

The writer explained that the Conficker botnet was that powerful that it could take over computer networks controlling banking, telephones and security systems. Moreover, it could lay hold on air traffic control and even the web itself. Mark Bowden also believes that Conflicker is powerful enough to overwhelm not just its target of cyber attack, but also root servers of the web itself, which would result in crushing the whole bally thing. As you can understand, a botnet of such a size could also be used as a weapon.

The worm in question can also be used by the hackers for stealing passwords and codes. For example, some guys from Ukraine managed to lease a part of the computers infected by Conficker worm in order to drain American bank accounts. It’s that easy – you write a worm and you are rich. In our digital age the world and dubious money are open for some.

Mark Bowden is known as the author of a few books. His works include Black Hawk Down, Killing Pablo: The Hunt for the World's Greatest Outlaw and Guests of the Ayatollah. The famous author admitted that he was lucky the creator of Conficker thus far hadn’t considered the idea of taking down the entire world-wide web or, which might be even worse, using the bot to create a weapon of mass destruction. The matter is that it doesn’t mean the malware can’t be used for this by the others, especially after the new book will be distributed among many, including people longing for easy money. It is still not clear what effect the book will have, but its content is interesting at the very least.

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