|
Thursday, January 22, 2004
New Bagle worm disguises self as calculator: Sophos
ANTI-VIRUS maker Sophos has warned of a new worm called Bagle-A (W32/Bagle-A).
Sophos issued the alert following many reports in Australia, the United Kingdom and other countries.
In a statement, it urged users to be cautious of email received over the weekend with the subject line “Hi.”
The Bagle-A worm arrives as an email message which talks about a test and has an attachment— a program file with a random name.
This file, which can pretend to be the Windows calculator, opens a security hole in the infected user’s computer which can be exploited by hackers.
“The worm pretends to be a ‘techie-looking’ test email to fool people into running the dangerous attachment—not knowing they are potentially giving hackers the power to run destructive code on their computer,” said Charles Cousins, managing director for Sophos Asia.
He advised users to be wary of any programs delivered by email even if they seem to come from a known contact.
“If you email programs around, you should get out of this habit now, as it encourages bad security practice,” said Cousins.
More information on protection against this worm is available at http://www.sophos.com/virusinfo/analyses/w32baglea.html.
Sophos recommends the use of email gateway software, which can block all programs, whether infected or not, to enforce safe computing practices.
The UK-based Sophos is a developer of anti-virus and anti-spam software.
(January 22, 2004 issue)
Write letter to the editor. Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board. Click here. |
|
[ return
to top ]
[ home
]
|
LOCAL NEWS
BUSINESS
OPINION
SPORTS
LIFESTYLE
FEATURE
SUPERBALITA
WEEKEND
|
