Wartime Hackers Launch Viruses And Web-Site DefacementsWartime Hackers Launch Viruses And Web-Site Defacements

Hackers are stepping up their virus writing and Web-site defacement because of the war in Iraq, antivirus vendor F-Secure Corp. said Thursday. The company has identified three viruses related to Iraq: Lioten, Prune, and Ganda.

Hackers launched more than 200 site defacements in the 48 hours before the United States attacked Baghdad, mostly related to the Iraq crisis, F-Secure says. The defacements have anti-war, anti-U.S., and anti-Iraq slogans. F-Secure includes screenshots of the defacements in a wrap-up of war-related hacker activity it posted to its Web site.

A U.S. Navy Web site was defaced with an anti-war slogan Wednesday, as was a Department of Agriculture site. The site for the town of Pacifica, Calif., was defaced with anti-Bush, anti-war, and anti-American messages.

Hackers fighting online include U.S.-based patriotic hackers who might launch a denial-of-service attack against the E-mail server of an Iraqi embassy or Web sites of Iraqi companies, F-Secure says. Other sources of wartime hackers include Islamic extremist groups from around the world who launch attacks on U.S. sites, especially dot-mil sites, and peace activists.

The Lioten or Iraq_Oil virus spreads through shared folders rather than E-mail. And the Prune virus is a Visual Basic script worm that spreads via E-mail, mIRC, and network shares.

Infected E-mail carries the subject line "US Government Material--Iraq Crisis." More information on the Prune worm is available at the F-Secure Web site.