This year might seem like a summer break compared to last year's swarm of viruses, including Code Red and Nimda , that wreaked havoc on computer systems worldwide. But experts say that viruses and the mechanisms for spreading them continue to evolve.

True to their history of building on one another's work, virus writers continue to blend hacking techniques with worms and trojans - hidden programs designed to open back doors into unprotected systems - to take control of systems around the world.

Virus technology is becoming more complex and difficult to spot, according to experts, who see malicious code working its way onto the Internet and, increasingly, onto peer-to-peer (P2P) or wireless networks.

[ Read more ]