Trojan-to-worm toolkit helps advanced hackers go undetected

Researchers at Panda Labs have discovered a free toolkit that allows users to turn any executable file into a worm.

The tool, believed to originate in Spain, is simple to use and can be designed with various functionality, according to Panda. The application, known as T2W, or TrojanToWorm, can be customized to disable certain operating system components, such as Task Manager, Windows Registry Editor and web browsers.

"The scary part is that you can take existing stealth-based malware and actually make it a worm," Ryan Sherstobitoff, chief corporate evangelist for Panda Security, "Now you can infect hundreds of desktops. That's the really scary part. Taking something that's already really dangerous and making it self-replicate."

But experts say the application, more than anything, is a deliberate design aimed at inexperienced hackers, known as script kiddies, so more sophisticated hackers can continue to fly under the radar and commit silent but destructive data breaches.