Sophos has alerted users of a network-aware worm that attacks with a range of just 16 passwords. Weak passwords are often the favourite exploit of viruses targeting home users, and Sluter-A uses an array of 16 variations based on just eight passwords. However, Sluter-A uses admin, root, server and various lengths of a few sequences: 1234, 4321, asdf and !”£$, as tools to prise open access to network shares named C$ and Admin$. Poorly shored-up businesses look to be the target. However, it’s not picky. Sluter-A scans port 445 of a large number of randomly generated IP addresses for such network shares and attempts to break in with its 16 passwords. If successful it will create a copy of itself with the filename msslut32.exe and schedule it to run on the infected system. Full Story
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