er .... it's not everyday you get advance notice of a pending
virus attack .. so better update your virus protection software
with the latest definitions and backup all the doc, xls, pdf, ppt,
zip files to thumbdrive pocket hardisk
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NEW YORK If you have computer files you'd rather not lose, now is
a good time to make sure your anti-virus software is up to date. A
worm set to activate Friday will corrupt documents using the most
common file types, including ".doc," ".pdf," and ".zip."
Hundreds of thousands of machines are believed to be infected,
mostly in India, Peru, Turkey and Italy, said Mikko Hypponen, chief
research officer for Finnish security company F-Secure Corp.
The worm, known as "CME-24," "BlackWorm," "Mywife.E" or a number of
other monikers, even tries to disable anti-virus software that is
out of date, he said.
Thus, users should make sure their software is turned on and has
the latest definitions, generally available for free from the
software vendor's Web site. F-Secure also has created a free
removal tool.
"If you are infected, and you find out about it today, you still
have time to get rid of the virus," Hypponen said.
As worms go, the spread of BlackWorm is relatively low. But worms
these days are generally designed to help spammers and hackers
carry out attacks, not to destroy files as this one does. So the
impact this time may be more severe.
Microsoft Corp. issued an advisory Tuesday warning customers about
the worm, which affects most versions of its Windows operating
system.
Users should be safe if they have the latest anti-virus software or
if their computers are set with limited privileges, a common
setting in larger organizations. They are vulnerable if they, like
many small business and home users, leave their computers set with
full administrative rights.
And users should check the date on the computer. The worm hits the
third of every month, so if the computer's local calendar settings
are off, Hypponen said, files may be destroyed sooner or later,
even if the computer is never turned on Friday.
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On the Net:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/advisory/904420.mspx
http://www.f-secure.com
