
US
visitors should click here. The SoBig.F outbreak, first
detected Monday, began 10 days after the Blaster worm (which itself
infected an estimated 500,000 users) and has already beaten other
infamous viruses such as LoveBug, Klez and Kournikova in terms of
spread. Second wave attack now predicted.
The first SoBig F variant was released in January.
"This is the most severe e-mail virus
we've ever seen," MessageLabs' Josh White said. "At its
peak 1 out of 17 e-mails that we were processing was a copy of the
SoBig.F virus. Certainly we haven't seen numbers like this before.
It is spreading at a very fast rate and the volumes are high."
The e-mail-borne worm arrives with various subject headers, such
as: Your details, Thank you!, Re: Thank you!, Re: Details, Re: Re:
My details, Re: Approved, Re: Your application, Re: Wicked screensaver
or Re: That movie.
The body of the message is short and usually contains either "See
the attached file for details" or "Please see the attached
file for details."
Fooled that the e-mail is legitimate, the user opens the e-mail
and triggers the worm, which then goes hunting for addresses. The
flood of messages it then sends are capable of succumbing other
users' inboxes or computer systems by the sheer volume of e-mails.
The virus also implements a background program that turns an infected
computer into a relay system for further messages from the virus'
creator.
This part of the virus has led many computer security experts to
believe the virus was written to try and beat spam filters.
Experts are predicting that though it will soon be brought under
control, the infection is likely to spike early next week as many
people in Europe and the U.S. return to work from (northern hemisphere)
summer holidays to awaiting e-mail inboxes.
Unlike MS Blaster, this worm can only arrive via an executable
email attachment. If you have up-to-date anti-virus software and
the latest downloads, you should be safe.
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