AJAX might power the next generation of internet-based worms

AJAX might power the next generation of internet-based worms

Hackers are always on the lookout for new technologies to target the internet users. The trend has changed from viruses to worms to Trojans to instant messenger based threats. The latest technology to be misused for this purpose might just be the AJAX technology, which is increasingly becoming popular amongst web services.

Google started the trend of using AJAX with their Gmail service. Since then, it has been adopted by everyone. We now have sites like Digg.com, Flickr, Yahoo! Mail Beta and others using this technology.

However, a recent worm discovered in the wild that affected the Yahoo! Mail has become a cause of worry for the security companies. Yamanner first appeared on June 12 and targeted users of the free webmail service. It did not require any action on the part of the users as it just infected the machine as soon as the infected message was opened.

The worm exploited a previously unknown cross site-scripting hole and uses AJAX victimize the web user. This just might start a new trend with more hackers using this advanced technology to develop more complicated and harmful codes to infect the machines.