Wurmark-D : Happy new year - and a virus too!

Posted on Wednesday, January 12 2005 @ 15:11 CET by Thomas De Maesschalck
Anti-virus companies are warning for a new mass-mailer virus that uses nudity to deceive victims to run it - it is dubed Wurmark-D virus. But Sophos says that the worm hasn't spread hugely until now, reports in the wild are relatively low.

The worm spreads through e-mails with the subject line 'HAPPY NEW YEAR' and the message 'All the best in new year from our family here is a litle attachment to make you smile in new year email me back haha...,' or with a subject: 'MARY CHRISTMAS from our family' and message: 'All the best in new year and christams from our family i was lauging like mad when i saw it! .'

Attached to the e-mail a screensaver with .scr extension containing the malicious code. The attachement is zipped - in the hope that it might bypass some anti-virus products that don't scan archives.
If a recipient unpacks the archive and executes the file they will see an image of naked people that form the message Happy New Year. But that's not all that happens, as in the background the worm gets busy harvesting email addresses from the system and sending itself on to them. It will also attempt to turn off any processes it sees running that it thinks are from antivirus software.

'People coming into work after an extended holiday, and possibly facing a few thousand emails in their inbox, should be careful not to fall for the confidence tricks often used by computer viruses,' said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos. 'Anyone who forgets to exercise caution before running this unsolicited email attachment could be in for a rude awakening.'
Source: PC Pro


About the Author

Thomas De Maesschalck

Thomas has been messing with computer since early childhood and firmly believes the Internet is the best thing since sliced bread. Enjoys playing with new tech, is fascinated by science, and passionate about financial markets. When not behind a computer, he can be found with running shoes on or lifting heavy weights in the weight room.



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