The Storm worm has gotten a lot of press this year, with some publications claiming that at one point it accounted for 8% of all malware on Microsoft Windows computers. There's no question that it's one of the most successful pieces of malware to date, but just how successful is it? Well, according to Joshua Corman of IBM Internet Security Systems, the worm is netting just under $2 million per day for its creators.
Malicious code writers are increasingly motivated by profit over a desire for notoriety and the sheer volume of revenue-making spam that can be sent by harnessing the full power of the Storm worm is much greater than anything before. That said, the "millions of dollars" part should be taken with a pinch of salt given that Corman failed to give any indication of how he had arrived at that figure.