The MyDoom virus first emerged two weeks ago and quickly took the entire Internet community by storm as it used bystander computers to launch a crippling attack on the SCO Group, which managed to migrate to a temporary website before the virus put its business functions at a standstill with a flood of requests for data.
MyDoom's second version was aimed at launching the same type of attack on Microsoft, only for a longer period of time, with a slated attack date of sometime between Feb. 8-12.
According to reports, Doomjuice seeks out computers that have already been corrupted by MyDoom A and B, and while it is not spreading as rapidly as the original MyDoom versions, it is taking advantage of already infected computers to make its progress through the net, experts are saying.
F-Secure, an Internet security company, is telling the general Internet community that Doomjuice drops the original source code of the MyDoom worm into a pre-designated archive on infected computers, a strong indication that the previous incarnations of the worm were all written by the same hacker.
F-Secure is saying that the virus uses a backdoor installed by MyDoom A, which it locates by scanning random Internet addresses. When the new virus finds a computer that is infected by MyDoom A, Doomjuice downloads itself.
Security experts are saying that Microsoft.com was slowed significantly over the weekend by Doomjuice and was "intermittently" unavailable.
F-Secure is saying that the attack is intended to last forever against the Microsoft website by continuously overloading its system, unlike the SCO Group attack which was given a set number of days.
Doomjuice is also being called MyDoom C, although security experts are shying away from the association because it is a far different breed of worm from the other worms in the MyDoom family. Although Doomjuice has the same ultimate goal, which is to wreak havoc on specific corporate entities.
On Jan. 30, Microsoft and SCO both announced a $500,000 reward for any information leading to the capture and arrest of the MyDoom author, who so far remains at large.
