http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/internet/01/31/kamasutraworm/index.html
ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- "There are a lot of people who are going
to be very unhappy on the third of February," said Professor
Merrick Furst from the Georgia Tech College of Computing.
That's when the Kama Sutra computer worm will begin destroying
critical files on infected computers. And hundreds of thousands of
machines may have the worm lurking within their Windows operating
system, ready to be unleashed on February 3 and the third of every
month thereafter.
Experts say Windows Office documents, Word documents, Excel spread
sheets, and PDFs (portable document format) are among the files
that will be "overwritten." That means the data will be changed and
corrupted, and the original information will no longer be
accessible.
While files that have simply been deleted can sometimes be
recovered; overwritten files are usually lost for good.
This malicious software entices computer users with promises of
sexy pictures, with e-mail subject lines ranging from "School girl
fantasies gone bad" to "Hot Movie" to "Crazy illegal Sex!" and
"Kama Sutra pics."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4673576.stm
Computer security firms are bracing themselves as the moment
approaches when the Nyxem virus will strike.
On 3 February the bug will start erasing Word documents,
spreadsheets and other common files on infected PCs.
Compromised machines will also be used as launch platforms to help
the virus seek out fresh victims.
Because the virus is known to be lurking on more than 300,000 PCs,
this scanning could generate large amounts of net traffic as it
activates.
Sexy shock
The Nyxem-E virus first emerged on 16 January and since then has
steadily been racking up victims.
A website associated with the virus has been keeping count of the
machines it has managed to infect and now this counter stands at
more than 300,000 victims.
Unlike many other recent Windows viruses, Nyxem-E has been built to
delete many popular types of file. Security firms suggest that it
was written to target businesses because many of the file types it
deletes, spreadsheets and presentations, are more common in firms
than homes.
However, because many companies have good security systems in place
home users are more likely to be caught out. The virus only affects
Windows users who must open an infected attachment on an e-mail
message to fall victim.
NYXEM FILE TARGETS
DMP - Oracle files
DOC - Word document
MDB - Microsoft Access
MDE - Microsoft Access/Office
PDF - Adobe Acrobat
PPS - PowerPoint slideshow
PPT - PowerPoint
PSD - Photoshop
RAR - Compressed archive
XLS - Excel spreadsheet
ZIP - Compressed file
The creators of the virus have tried to trick people into opening
the attachments by falsely claiming they contain a variety of
pornographic images or videos.
