Monitored Alarm Systems

It 's that time of year again - when the ghosts, ghouls and goblins roam the streets as eating candy for breakfast is quite acceptable, and all who love to scare the crap out of your friends is recommended ... It is obvious that "I have Halloween on the brain (Editor's Note: braaaaaaiiins), we 've been screening for Dead Set in the photo lab all week, our staff costumes roam halls and all the 'S got a good sound sugar. But our favorite part of Halloween ISN 't sweets - it' S creepy, crawly, cooling parts. A computer virus is as frightening as the zombie outbreak. Below, we count 13 worst computer viruses.

                       One botnet, two botnet, hahahaha!

13: ILOVEYOU Worm

The ILOVEYOU Worm was just a simple Visual Basic Script that wreaked havoc on just about every file on your hard drive. As if that weren’t devious enough, the ILOVEYOU Worm really shows off its demented roots with its method of deliveries: disguising itself as a love letter. It proved to be an extremely effective way to infect systems, claiming over 50 million victims in little over a month. We geeks tend to be a somewhat lonely bunch, and it’s just unfair to entice us with promises of love.

12: Here You Have Worm

Even though the ILOVEYOU Worm was defeated ten years ago, its spirit lives on. Just a few months ago, the “Here you have” Worm tricked recipients into opening e-mail attachments claiming to be work-related documents. Fortunately, improved software security prevented this virus from being significantly successful, but its familiar delivery tactics remind us of the heartbreak of reformatting our beloved computers ten years ago.

11: FakeAlert Trojans

FakeAlert Trojans have become alarmingly common lately, showing up in a multitude of flavors, such as Internet Security 2010, Antivirus 2011, Desktop Security 2010, and Security Essentials 2010. They infect their victims by creating advertisements that look like very convincing virus alerts. Clicking the ad then installs the “antivirus” program, which is actually the virus. Corporate and family computers are the most common victims, simply because workers and children are too embarrassed to admit they stumbled upon a virus and attempt to repair it themselves. Why is this so scary? Well, who do you think has to fix all these computers? Us, the computer geeks

10: Alureon

The Alureon virus has come and gone over the years, but it is making another comeback by bundling itself with various FakeAlert Trojans. While its MO isn’t all that different from most Trojans, stealing passwords and credit card info, and causing Blue Screens of Death, it also does something very annoying. Alureon can hijack your search engine, turning simple Google quarries into links to even more viruses. Because it can redirect any link in your web browser, it makes downloading removal tools extremely difficult if you don’t have a spare computer.

9: Fake Virus of Doom

Geeks have been pulling silly computer pranks on each other for as long as there have been computers. Some of the pranks are simple, like taking a screenshot of someone’s desktop, setting it as the wallpaper, and then hiding all of his desktop icons. Others are a bit more complex, like the Fake Virus of Doom. Just placing a simple flash video into your buddy’s Startup folder is all it takes to scare the crap out of him.

8: Kenzero

Kenzero is a recent virus, first popping up just a couple months ago. It’s not particularly prevalent, nor is it particularly destructive. Because it is distributed through P2P networks, the majority of its targets are those partaking in illegal file sharing, sort of like a villainous hero, but its MO is a bit more disturbing. Kenzero monitors and records the victims browsing habits and threatens to post them to the public unless the victim purchases certain items or installs certain programs. It’s a bit frightening and unsettling to think that our private lives can be exposed by a virus.

7: BooNana

6: iKee

5: AndroidOS FakePlayer

With jailbroken iPhones being Rickrolled and open to certain forms of attack, it’s not surprising to hear that Google’s Android OS is susceptible to viruses as well. FakePlayer was the first virus to be discovered targeting Android OS. It spread in the form of a Trojan disguised as a media player, and once installed, it began sending SMS messages to charge-per-text phone numbers, raking in profits for the scammers and sending your phone through the roof. Not even our smartphones are safe anymore!

4: Mariposa Botnet

While it wasn’t the result of any single virus, the Mariposa Botnet was a very large network of over 13 million zombified PCs, and even though it was dismantled and its creators arrested earlier this year, one very scary fact still remains: the entire Mariposa Botnet was created by just a couple of amateur hackers using Kiddie Scripts. It used to be that only a handful of people in the world had the knowledge that it took to create such a complex network of bots, but now anyone with a basic understanding of computer programming and access to the write scripts can accomplish the same thing.

3: Storm Worm 2

2: Stuxnet

1: Skynet

Speaking of Skynet, that brings us to our number one scariest computer virus of all. As everything in our lives becomes integrated with everything else, all tied together with a tangle of wires in cyberspace, it’s just a matter of time before every aspect of our lives to become vulnerable to cyber attacks. Encryptions, firewalls and cyber security will increase of course, but how can you stop an evil, super intelligent computer system intent on destroying the world as we know it? We must send the Governator of California back in time!

Intelligence chief blames western powers for computer worm targeting nuclear systems

Iran had detained several "spies" involved in attempts to sabotage the country's nuclear programme through cyberspace, the Iranian intelligence minister, Heydar Moslehi, said.

The announcement yesterday follows the attack on industrial computer systems in Iran by the Stuxnet worm, designed to disrupt its nuclear facilities, including the Bushehr power plant.

Although officials attempted to play down the significance of the Stuxnet attack, which had infected more than 30,000 computers, Moslehi's comments, apparently meant to reassure Iranians, suggest the cyber attack had caused more alarm in the regime than has so far been acknowledged.

Suspicions have also been growing in recent days that the Stuxnet worm may have been designed as much to spy on the systems as to destroy them.

In his speech, carried on Iranian television condition and maintenance Mehr News, Moslehi said that Iran has opened a "destructive activities arrogant [Western powers] in cyberspace", adding that "the various ways of dealing with them have been developed and implemented ".

He added: "I assure all citizens that the intelligence apparatus currently has complete supervision of cyberspace and will not allow any leak or destruction of our country's nuclear activities."

Moslehi gave no details of when the arrests had taken place or whether those detained were Iranians or citizens of another country.