MyDoom knocks out SCO site

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The MyDoom Internet worm claimed its first scalp Sunday, paralyzing the Web site of American software firm SCO Group with a massive data blitz, Reuters reports.

"Internet traffic began building momentum Saturday evening and by midnight Eastern Time the SCO Web site was flooded with requests beyond its capacity," read a statement from SCO. The company expects the attack to continue throughout the next few weeks.

The speed and severity of the attack surprised security officials. "It was spectacularly successful," said Mikko Hypponen, research manager at Finnish anti-virus firm F-Secure.

MyDoom -- also known as Novarg -- is believed to have infected hundreds of thousands, and possibly over one million, PCs. It was programmed to take control of unsuspecting computer users' PCs from which it would launch a debilitating denial-of-service attack on SCO Sunday.

And SCO is not alone. Microsoft Corp has been targeted by a second variant of MyDoom, dubbed MyDoom.B. That attack is timed to kick off Tuesday.

Both Microsoft and SCO have issued $250,000 rewards for tips leading to the arrest and conviction of the author or authors.