Superworm seizes 9m PCs

Downadup, the superworm that attacks a patched vulnerability in Microsoft Windows, is making exponential gains if estimates from researchers at F-Secure are accurate. They show 6.5 million new infections in the past four days, bringing the total number of machines it has compromised to almost nine million, says The Register.

The astronomical growth stunned some researchers, although others cautioned the numbers could be inflated since the counting of infected computers is by no means an exact science.

Most agreed F-Secure's estimate was certainly plausible and, if it proved to be correct, represented a major development in the world of cyber threats.

A virus attack has shut down Ministry of Defence communication and administration systems aboard some Royal Navy warships, reports Computing.co.uk.

The computers infected are part of the NavyStar system used for purposes such as storekeeping, e-mail and Internet access.

The system connects to wider networks by shore connection when vessels are in harbour and uses satellites when at sea.

Computer hacker Gary McKinnon should know within four weeks whether his attempts to fight extradition to the US have any chance of success, reports The BBC.

McKinnon was joined by his supporters and advisers in London to repeat their call for a UK trial rather than extradition.

He admits hacking into US government computer systems in 2001 and 2002 in the search for information about UFOs, which he believed to have been suppressed by the US authorities.

The European Union's new complaint against Microsoft is the same one that US regulators raised in 1996, namely that bundling a browser into the operating system violates anti-trust law, says CNet.

The newest allegations stem from a 2007 complaint by Norway's Opera that Microsoft was hurting competition by including Internet Explorer in Windows and by not better adhering to Web standards.

What is most odd about the EU taking up the issue is its timing. The EU spent years going after Microsoft on anti-trust matters related specifically to its bundling of products with Windows and didn't focus on the browser. Plus, the move comes as Microsoft's browser share is at its lowest point since the Netscape days.