Latest Bagle worm 'certainly successful'

Unknown online vandals with an apparent connection to spam email have created a new version of the Bagle computer worm that has spread somewhat successfully in the past 24 hours, according to antivirus companies. The mass-mailing computer virus, dubbed Bagle.AF or Beagle.AB by different security firms, opens a path for intruders to relay bulk email messages through the infected computer and attempts to contact one of almost 150 compromised German websites to let the attackers known of their latest conquest. Oliver Friedrichs, senior manager for antivirus firm Symantec's security response center, said: "It certainly is successful. It is definitely comparable to threats that we saw earlier this year such as MyDoom."

Symantec raised the virus to a threat rating of three on its five-point scale, while rival antivirus firm McAfee - formerly Network Associates - gave the program a medium danger rating.

The latest incarnation of the Bagle virus is largely a copy of previous versions of the program, Friedrichs said. The first worm in the Bagle line started infecting computers in January.