Users question JPEG virus, McAfee stands firm
Source: IDG.net
Users and antivirus vendors are questioning the seriousness of a virus announced last week by McAfee Security, a division of Network Associates Inc., as well as the manner in which McAfee doled out details about the virus.
On June 13, McAfee issued a press release about the W32/Perrun virus which is the first virus to infect JPEGs, a type of image file, McAfee said. [See "McAfee: New virus is first to infect image files," June 13.] Perrun, which McAfee received from its author, uses an executable file to infect image files and then tries to spread the infection to other image files in the same directory, according to McAfee. The virus requires the presence of the executable and cannot work without it, McAfee said.
The discovery of the virus could lead to the rearchitecting of antivirus programs, as well as possible mutations that could see the virus executable embedded in image files and on the Web, said Vincent Gullotto, senior director for McAfee AVERT (Anti-Virus Emergency Response Team), at the time.
