Piggyback virus strikes
THE outlook for computer users got even more gloomy yesterday with the release of a new MyDoom virus.
But unlike its record-setting predecessors, which spread via e-mail, Doomjuice automatically scans the Internet and infects computers without help from users.
Computer Associates Australia senior security consultant Daniel Zatz said Doomjuice could infect any computer already infected with the first MyDoom virus.
Mr Zatz said MyDoom.A opened a port on infected computers, which allowed Doomjuice to enter.
"It's just going to spread quietly in the background," he said. "People won't even know they've been infected. We've seen this in the past where someone will write a virus and another will piggyback on that later on."
Once Doomjuice had infected a computer, it would remove MyDoom.A's February 12 "drop dead" date, and would instruct the computer to attack Microsoft's website, flooding it with requests for information in an attempt to disable the site.
