MyDoom virus back for second round
Security experts issued fresh alerts over a new, file-deleting version of the MyDoom e-mail worm that was targeting computer users with greater ferocity Wednesday.
The new outbreak, known as MyDoom.F, emerged late last week and has been gathering steam ever since.
The virus is programmed to infect personal computers and use them to unleash a crippling digital barrage known as a denial-of-service attack on select Web sites belonging to Microsoft Corp. and the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
The attacks failed to bring down the sites, though access to the Web site for the RIAA was hampered slightly on Wednesday, security firms reported. The RIAA, a lobbying group for the music industry, has drawn the ire of computer users since it began suing American online song swappers last year.
While it was not spreading as fast as its MyDoom predecessors nor as rapidly as last week's Netsky.B outbreak, MyDoom.F is considered a growing risk as it deletes random Microsoft Word and Excel files, plus photos and movies stored on an infected computer.