But Gullotto is convinced the worst is past on this one. "Since we first saw it debut on Sunday, it's shown a decrease [in prevalence] overnight. I think it's plateaued. We may see a small bump, but I expect that by Friday it will have run its course."
MessageLabs' stats bear that out. Although more than 120,000 copies of the worm were detected Monday, as of mid-morning Tuesday, MessageLabs had only filtered an additional 20,000 copies.
Even so, anti-virus vendors have been updating their warnings to users; most currently tag Beagle/Bagel as a significant threat. Symantec, for instance, lists it as a '3' in its 1 through 5 scale (and upped it from a '2' on Monday), while Network Associates ranks it as a 'Medium' threat.
While some analysts have compared Beagle/Bagel to Sobig -- in part because this new worm, like Sobig, has a self-programmed shut off date after which it won't reproduce -- Gullotto pooh-poohed the idea.
"It's not even close in comparison to Sobig," he said, "not even to MiMail." Sobig and MiMail, two of the most persistent worms in the latter half of 2003, have infected magnitudes more users, said Gullotto, and pose a much greater danger. MiMail, for instance, has circulated in more than a dozen variations, all of which attempt to trick users into divulging financial information, such as credit card account numbers.
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By combining resources and expertise, the AI-Enabled ICT Workforce Consortium will offer a blueprint for how industries can adapt to an AI-dominated future.
IT leaders should heed the guidance of cybersecurity insurance providers who think businesses should prioritize security education, incident preparedness, regular internal audits, and ongoing vulnerability scanning and patching.
