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TECH UPDATE
Virulent PC bug poised to outdo predecessor
A new variant of the Mydoom computer virus, which has been clogging up the internet for days, was poised to overtake its predecessor to become the most widely spread computer bug ever, virus experts said.
The so-called Mydoom.B computer virus spreads by users opening their email, even if they leave attachments closed, making it more virulent than anything seen previously, Mikko Hyppoenen, of Finnish antivirus firm F-Secure.
“Some variants of the Mydoom.B version will run automatically from the email, it’s enough to just open and read the mail,” he told AFP.
In the first version of the bug recipients of infected emails had to open an attached file in order to have their computers contract the virus.
“It will cause it to spread quite quickly,” Hyppoenen said.
First detected on Jan 28, the latest variant also uses a backdoor function of the first version to update itself and attack more computers.
After infecting a computer, it immediately scans for other infected computers in the network, using the earlier version’s backdoor function to update itself, Mikael Albrecht, also with F-Secure, said.
Although still smaller than the A version, “the Mydoom.B variant is spreading quite quickly now,” and will become as big as its predecessor, “if not bigger,” Albrecht said.
Since the Mydoom.A was detected on Jan 26, it has clogged internet by sending hundred of millions of infected emails throughout the world. But ironically, the success of Mydoom.A would curb the pace of proliferation of its successor, as it has severely slowed down the internet and corporate computer networks, causing huge delays in the delivery of emails, Hyppoenen noted.
Most of the emails generated by the Mydoom viruses will never reach their destinations however, having been stopped by the anti-virus protection of corporate computer networks, analysts said.
Since the new variant slips into computers unnoticed by the detection software made for the Mydoom.A version, security experts urged computer users to update their anti-virus software frequently to make sure they are immune from the latest bugs.
Many anti-virus software firms have posted detection software and instructions on how to get rid of the Mydoom strains on their web sites free of charge.
While the first virus was designed to attack the website of Utah-based software vendor SCO, the new version also launched an assault on Microsoft’s page www.microsoft.com, virus crackers said.
These attacks might be just diversions however from the bugs’ real intention of infecting computers and opening backdoors on them, enabling their creator to access infected machines from a distance, possibly to relay spam, experts warned.
Fuel cell breakthrough
Fujitsu has made progress in development of a key component for direct methanol fuel cells, which are viewed as a future power source for portable equipment. The company is the second in as many weeks to announce development of a new membrane that should help lead to smaller and more efficient fuel cells.
The membrane is at the heart of a fuel cell and separates a mixture of water and methanol from a catalyst. A high concentration of methanol to water is desirable because it lengthens running time, but if this concentration is too high fuel can leak across the membrane and be wasted. Many current direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) prototypes use a membrane that allows a concentration of up to 10 per cent methanol to water.
Fujitsu’s new membrane allows for a concentration of up to 30 percent, says Scott Ikeda, a company spokesperson.
Applied to a prototype fuel cell with 300 milliliters of 30 per cent methanol, the new membrane allows the fuel cell to delivers enough power to run a notebook computer for between eight hours and 10 hours. The same fuel cell using the old membrane and 10 per cent methanol concentration provided power for one-third the time, says Ikeda.
Fujitsu says it has no firm commercialization plan for the technology at present although some of the other companies do. — Sci-tech World Report
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