Curious Malware Specimens of 2007

It's that time of the year when individuals, companies, typically take stock of the old before they get ready to ring-in the new.

PandaLabs, Panda Security's anti-malware laboratory, has put together an almanac of sorts, listing some of the curious specimens of malware that appeared in the second half of this year.

The wannabe Trojan, "Aifone.A", which started doing the rounds after the launch of Apple's iPhone, in a bid to promote the iPhone when in reality it was promoting itself amongst unsuspecting users.

The kidnapper Trojan, "Sinowal.FY", which encrypted files on infected computers, forcing users to buy specific tools to decrypt them. The Trojan used the user's files as bait.

The sadistic worm, "RogueMario.A" that entertained users even as it went about infecting their computers. Add to this, it installed a version of the 'Mario Bros' game every time it infected a computer.

The 'friendly' worms; "MSNFunny.B", "Mimbot.A", and "MsnSend" that might have been welcome thanks to their ability to send out messages in different languages, had it not been for the string of errors in these messages.

The worm with a civic conscience, "Voter.A" that invited the citizens of Kenya to participate in the elections, and vote for one of the candidates. The flip side: it displayed an image of the candidate every nine seconds.

The "Sohanat.DB", which kept users from accessing search engines like Google; instead, displaying poor imitations, clicking upon which, led users to pornographic or highly infected Web sites.

The knowledge-thirsty Trojan, "AttachMsngr.G", whose thirst for knowledge led it to capture keystrokes, mouse movements, and even MSN Messenger conversations of users. Whoever said 'Knowledge is Power'?

The tell-tale worm, "CivilArmy.B" that told users romantic tales about young lovers before warning them about their infected computers.

The Quizmaster Trojan, "LiveDeath.A" that infected users, and subjected them to a volley of questions, only to shut-down their computers, no matter their answers.

For more information about these and other malware specimens, users can visit: http://www.pandasecurity.com/homeusers/security-info/.