Virus writers are again targeting a mostly male audience with reports from the US and the UK of a new worm that pretends to be a graphic image of a woman.
AcKellyInWhite.jpg.vbs is spread via e-mail, and corrupts files with the extensions vbs, vbe, js, jse, pif, pcx, jpeg and mp3, then sends infected e-mails to all the addresses in Microsoft Outlook's address book.
According to Richard Baldry, managing director of Sophos Anti-Virus Australia/New Zealand, the worm has yet to surface in Australia.
"These types of worms appear quite regularly, they are quite easy to write and modify," Baldry said. "In order to spread they need something to make people want to open them."
Baldry believes end users are increasingly alert to the dangers of unknown vbs files, and that this awareness is limiting the effectiveness of new worms.
"I think there were a large number of people who fell for the love letter, who would not even think of opening these things now," Baldry said.
Courtesy of Australian Reseller News: http://www.arnnet.com.au.