Vietnamese-made virus hits 20 000 computers
More than 20 000 computers were infected in one day by a sophisticated new computer virus unleashed by a Vietnamese programmer, the first of its kind in the country, an Internet security official said on Tuesday.
The "Gai Xinh" (Pretty Girl) virus uses Yahoo Messenger to infect computers when users click on a link ostensibly from an instant-messenger contact. Clicking on the link sends an instant message with the same link to all Yahoo contacts, but it was limited to certain Vietnamese-language websites.
The virus first appeared at noon on Monday and infected 2 400 computers per hour, Nguyen Tu Quang, director of the Bach Khoa Internetwork Security Centre, a leading Vietnamese anti-virus software provider.
Quang said the sophistication of the virus was impressive, reflecting the growing skill of Vietnamese hackers even as the country races to train information-technology professionals.
