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Malware Writers Attack Wikipedia

Although Wikipedia has never seen the need to implement a virus-scanning function for its pages, analysts and webmasters agree that the recent incident with malicious software planted on Wikipedia pages might cause the company to put in automatic virus scans, similar to the ones that Hotmail and Yahoo have with their free Web-based services. It seems that with the popularity of the Internet growing at such a rapid pace all over the world, many computer hackers are finding more clever and sophisticated ways to hurt online users. This practice does not seem like it will fade anytime in the near future.

Malware writers, in an effort to lead users to a booby-trapped page that contained malicious code, used a Wikipedia article in order to plant viruses on the computers of unsuspecting users. These writers reportedly used the archive storage function on Wikipedia to plant the computer-destroying code on numerous pages. The hackers created a Wikipedia page that offered a security update of Windows for a version of Lovesan/W32.Blaster worm, including a link to an external site.

The attackers directed users and webmasters to those archived pages through e-mails that used the Wikipedia logo. They also claimed that the encyclopedia site had been asked to help with worm patches by Microsoft. Wikipedia has since publicized that all archived versions of the page have been deleted and are strongly considering taking a preventative approach to the safety and security of its online encyclopedia.