BOSTON (06/02/2000) - Antivirus software vendors warned companies about another e-mail virus this week, this one nicknamed the Killer Résumé, but it appeared to have done little damage and was reportedly contained.
The virus, patterned on last year's Melissa worm, went out on May 26. Like Melissa and last month's I Love You virus, the Killer Résumé worm spread through Microsoft Outlook as an e-mail message. Its subject line reads "Resume - Janet Simmons," and includes an attachment called "Resume1.doc" or "Explorer.doc". If a user opens the attachment, the worm attempts to e-mail itself to the user's entire address list. It then attempts to delete files on the hard drive once the attachment is closed.
Antivirus software vendors, including Symantec Corp., Trend Micro Inc., Computer Associates International Inc. and Network Associates Inc., warned that the worm was spreading through some corporate e-mail systems. Trend Micro in Cupertino, California, reported that it had infected as many as nine sites.
However, the Computer Emergency Response Team at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh said it hadn't received any infection reports.
Cupertino-based Symantec and Santa Clara, California-based Network Associates gave the résumé worm a medium-risk assessment because it didn't spread rapidly.
Trend Micro and CA in Islandia, New York, rated it as a high risk, though Trend Micro downgraded that to medium later in the week.
Ira Winkler, president of the Internet Security Advisors Group in Severna Park, Maryland, said that the security community should talk more about how to stop viruses and worms. For example, users can prevent infection by disallowing macros and updating the definitions built into a user company's antivirus software, he said.