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The latest variants of the Bagle worm have alarmed antivirus companies because of the multiple-stage process they use to attack PCs. The variants, which Computer Associates International has given a new name--Glieder--because it says they are so different from previous Bagle worms, combine several elements in a way not seen before. In this staged approach, viruses seed their victims, then disarm them, and then finally exploit them. "We've seen blended threats before where a virus uses several methods to spread, but not like this" said Chris Thomas, a Computer Associates Australia security architect. The Win32.Glieder worm spreads using a common...

A major wave of Bagle-like Trojan horses hit users worldwide Tuesday with numerous variations that aim to overwhelm anti-virus defenses by morphing faster than research labs can release new signatures. The attack, which began about midnight EST, was launched in a large-scale spamming campaign, said virus researchers, and although the new threat doesn't spread on its own -- these are Trojans with Bagle characteristics, not true worms -- many security vendors have bumped up warnings to get out the word. It's unclear how many variations are at loose. Some vendors, such as Symantec, had reported only two as of mid-morning...

IT security experts have warned that a newly intercepted mutant of the infamous mass-mailing Bagle worm, dubbed Bagle.bb, has begun to spread rapidly across the internet.Over one million email infections were reported within a few hours of the virus being discovered in the wild on Friday morning. The peak infection rate was between 8am and 9am, when virus infection rates trebled from the hour previously, according to email security company BlackSpider Technologies.This latest Bagle variant, a mass-mailing worm containing its own SMTP engine, comes packed with PeX with the attachment in the executable of a name, McAfee's Avert antivirus team...

Beagle 2 scientists say craft is lost Simon Jeffery and agencies Wednesday February 11, 2004 Hopes of finding Beagle 2, the British Mars probe, today appeared close to zero after its creators declared it to be lost. There is still a slim chance that Mars Express - the European space agency orbiter circling the red planet - will pick up a signal, but Beagle will now be subject to the sort of inquiry held when any spacecraft goes missing. Colin Pillinger, the head of the team that sent it into space, said the investigation would establish the mission's areas of...