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Security companies have identified a variant of the Forbot worm that targets Windows servers with MySQL, an open database software package, installed.

Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos.com said, "System administrators should ensure that the computers under their care are properly protected with the latest anti-virus software, sensible firewall configurations and up-to-date security patches. If you take the necessary steps then malicious malware will find it as hard to spread as frozen butter."

The worm attacks networks that use weak passwords and by targeting two Microsoft security vulnerabilities, which, according to Sophos, are: The RPC-DCOM security exploit (MS03-039) and the LSASS security exploit (MS04-011).

"The Forbot worm uses brute force to try and break into systems with weak passwords," continued Cluley. "The message to system administrators is clear: beef up your passwords now to stop these kind of attacks from being possible."

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