Watch out for possible New Year's computer attacks

WASHINGTON - Computer users should take extra precautions to avoid possible cyberattacks over New Year's weekend, US law enforcement authorities have warned.

Citing FBI investigations and other information, the National Infrastructure Protection Center said in an advisory note on its website that distributed denial-of-service attacks "could occur over the holiday."

In such an event, one or more hackers break into unprotected computers, which are then commandeered to join in sending huge amounts of data to swamp a target website and render it inoperable.

Several security companies have cited the threat of such assaults, "and some have taken place already," said the infrastructure protection center, headquartered at the FBI.

In February, denial-of-service attacks knocked out websites run by Yahoo, Amazon.com, eBay, Datek Online, ZDNet, Buy.com and others for hours.

The authorities urged network administrators to double-check the configuration of security barriers known as firewalls to ward off possible attacks.

In addition, they recommended the use of a program created by the center, "Find DDOS," to determine if a network has been victimized with malicious code known as a Trojan.

Such code can turn a computer into a kind of zombie. The diagnostic tool can be downloaded through the center's website.

"Systems administrators should also consider updating their virus definitions daily and performing thorough scans for viruses and worms," or malicious code, the advisory said.

Repeating standard advice for avoiding destructive viruses and intrusions, it warned against opening e-mail attachments that come from unknown or suspect sources.

In a case of malicious code, such attachments may have been transmitted without the sender's consent if triggered by a virus or a Trojan, the center said.

Denial-of-service attacks have been mounted ever more effectively since the widely reported wave in February but have drawn less publicity, said the advisory, the latest in a series put out by the center.

- REUTERS

National Infrastructure Protection Center