Viruses & Malware

Perfidious virus pushers have created a worm that poses as Microsoft's anti-piracy program, Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA).

Security analysts have detected a new piece of malware that appears to run as a Microsoft program used to detect unlicensed versions of its operating system.

The malware has been classified as a worm and spreads through AOL's Instant Messenger program, said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos, a security vendor.

IT security watchers have warned of a Trojan spammed out in large quantities to email users around the world.

Kukudro-A is being propagated via an infected Microsoft Word document in spammed emails, which promise information about Apple, HP and Sony laptop computers for sale.

When opened the Word document attempts to install another Trojan horse, called Kuku-A, onto the user's hard drive, which can lead to hackers gaining access to innocent users' PCs.

AT this World Cup, Angola, and not Brazil, is the most dangerous team.

And in terms of individual dangermen, Angolan goalkeeper Luis Mamona Joao is rated higher than superstars such as England skipper David Beckham and Brazilian maestro Ronaldhino. But not in the way that you think.

According to IT security firm McAfee, websites associated with the African team are most likely to infect your computer with some form of risky software.

Security experts at MicroWorld Technologies inform that a Backdoor Worm named ?Doombot.k?, is spreading fast via ?abuse warning? emails, spoofing domain names of security software companies and leading business houses. The modus operandi of proliferation is strikingly similar to many phishing attacks in recent times.

A hoax e-mail which claims the National Australia Bank is bankrupt has already infected 1000 customers with malicious code in the form of a trojan.

The e-mail is sent specifically to NAB customers globally, as well as the customers of up to 12 other banks worldwide.

The scam works via a hoax e-mail sent to NAB customers, which says "People are starting panic withdrawals, some of the accounts were reported closed due to technical reasons, many ATMs are not operating. Does it seem that one of the Australia's greatest goes bankrupt?"

The proportion of email messages that contain malware has fallen for the first six months this year compared to the same period last year, Sophos said yesterday. Statistics released by Sophos show that about one in 91 email messages contained a virus or other types of bad software, far less than the one-in-35 figure of a year ago, said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant. Sophos provides enterprise-level antivirus, spam, adware and malware protection products.

"Email, as far as viruses are concerned, is actually safer than it was last year," Cluley said.

A computer virus that targets the popular file-sharing program Winny isn't the most destructive bug or even the most widespread. But it's the most talked about in Japan as it generates headline after headline, month after month.

The malware, called Antinny, finds random files on Winny users' PCs and makes them available on the file-sharing network. So far, the data leaked have been varied and plentiful: passwords for restricted areas at airports, police investigations, customer information, sales reports, staff lists.

Yahoo! on Monday has repaired a vulnerability in its email service that allowed a worm to harvest email addresses from a user accounts and further spread itself.

The JS/Yamanner worm automatically executes when a user opens the message in the Yahoo Mail service.

It uses JavaScript to exploit a flaw that until today was unpatched. Yahoo later on Monday fixed the vulnerability.

A computer virus that targets the popular file-sharing program Winny isn't the most destructive bug or even the most widespread. But it's the most talked about in Japan as it generates headline after headline, month after month.

The malware, called Antinny, finds random files on Winny users' PCs and makes them available on the file-sharing network. So far, the data leaked have been varied and plentiful: passwords for restricted areas at airports, police investigations, customer information, sales reports, staff lists.