Spybot worm

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For the antispyware program, see Spybot Search & Destroy.

The Spybot worm is actually a large family of computer worms of varying characteristics. Although the actual number of versions is unknown, it is estimated to be well into the thousands. This briefly held the record for most variants, but has subsequently been surpassed by the Agobot family. Spybot variants generally have several things in common:

  • The ability to spread via the popular P2P program KaZaA, oftentimes in addition to other such programs.
  • The ability to spread via at least vulnerability in the Microsoft Windows operating system. Earlier versions mostly used the RPC DCOM buffer overflow, although now some use the LSASS buffer overflow.
  • The ability to spread via various common backdoor Trojan horses.
  • The ability to spread to systems with weak administrative passwords.

Because there is no standard of detection nor classification for the Spybot family, there is also no standard naming convention. Most antivirus programs detect variants generically (e.g. W32/Spybot.worm), and identifying what specific Spybot variant is indicated is next to impossible except with the earliest or most common versions.

As a result of having so many variants, one anti-virus company is often not able to cover all versions of the family. The same applies to anti-spyware software.

Early detection of the Spybot worm usually comes from network engineers detecting the Denial of Service attack generated when the worm tried to communicate back to various IRC channels.

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