New Concept Virus targets Processor
Security firm Symantec has discovered a new proof of concept virus that targets the AMD processor rather than targeting operating systems. There are two versions of the worm, one aims at 32-bit and the other at 64-bit AMD processors. Symantec has called them “virus w32.bounds” and “w64.bounds”. Although the worm is just proof of concept code, there are some fears that it could be used as a starting point for creating some kind of malware. If a cybercriminal manages to turn the code into something more destructive, it could mean that they could make a worm that can move across different operating systems. Symantec believes the next stage would be mixing the 32-bit and 64-bit versions of the malware to create a single virus that can target both Intel and AMD families. The technique probably would not be used as a mass attack, but could be quite good as a targeted take-down method, Symantec says. This is interesting because most virus writers do not waste time at going after the chip because its much easier to hit an operating system. A chip attack could be coming soon.
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