Euro 2004 worms target footy fans

Security experts have warned football fans to watch out for virus-infected emails that contain attachments masquerading as Euro 2004 goodies. In the run up to the Euro 2004 football championships in Portugal, anti-virus company McAfee said it is expecting an increase in viruses posing as Euro 2004 screensavers, games and movie files. According to McAfee, Excel attachments that predict the tournament's results, MPEG files showing the greatest goals, screensavers, games and sound files containing this year’s England anthem could all be a disguise for malicious code.

The company is urging web users to be careful when opening and forwarding unsolicited mail that could be responsible for widespread virus infections.

Jack Clark, technology consultant at McAfee Security, said: “Despite constant reminders about the dangers of opening unsolicited attachments, users always tend to drop their guard when they see the arrival of something topically relevant and interesting in their inbox.”