Ads by TechWords

See your link here
Subscribe to our e-mail newsletters
For more info on a specific newsletter, click the title. Details will be displayed in a new window.
Security
Virus and Vulnerability Roundup
Computerworld Daily News (First Look and Wrap-Up)
Computerworld Blogs Newsletter
The Weekly Top 10
More E-Mail Newsletters 
 

Nyxem worm programmed to overwrite data files on Feb. 3

'Throwback' malware also travels under name of Kama Sutra

January 23, 2006 12:00 PM ET

IDG News Service - Antivirus vendors are warning of a rapidly spreading worm that is carrying a potentially destructive set of instructions. The Nyxem worm -- also nicknamed the Kama Sutra worm -- is programmed to overwrite all of the files on computers it infects on Feb. 3, said Mikko Hypponen, chief research officer at F-Secure Corp.
F-Secure researchers found the worm truncates files to 20 bytes and causes an error message when one is opened, he said.
"We are expecting to see problems in two weeks' time," Hypponen said.
The worm appears to be programmed to overwrite all files on the third day of every month, Hypponen said. So far, there's no indication where Nyxem originated.
While most antivirus vendors have issued updates for their software, Nyxem is spreading quickly, and its creators have posted a counter on a Web site that records new infections. According to F-Secure's security blog, the counter was showing around 510,000 infections as of Sunday night.
Nyxem infections may be rising because it is taking advantage of computers that have already had their antivirus software disabled by some other virus such as Bagle, Hypponen said.
The worm, which is spread through e-mail, uses a dated technique to entice users by promising pornography, said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant, at Sophos PLC. Nyxem lacks the sophistication of recent Trojan horse-style viruses that are more targeted and less prevalent in order to evade detection, Cluley said.
Nonetheless, users appear to still be clicking, and the worm was accounting for about 35% of virus traffic as of Monday morning, he said.
"It's a bit of a throwback to an old trick," Cluley said.
The worm harvests e-mail addresses and then sends itself out again. The e-mail subject line may contain text that says "Miss Lebanon 2006" or "School girl fantasies gone bad," according to Sophos.


Reprinted with permission from

IDG.net
Story copyright 2009 International Data Group. All rights reserved.

Additional Resources

POLL RESULTS
Accelerate your knowledge of the IT world you inhabit by viewing the results of a series of polls taken by your IT peers. These polls of 100+ IT professionals each are available for full viewing. They cover key topics such as virtualization, processor performance, green IT, cloud computing and many others. Be a part of the buzz.
WHITE PAPER
Technology is complex. Keeping it running productively shouldn't be. To that end, you want to minimize the number of solutions needed in-house to simplify operations, maintenance, and support. Kodak offers a best-practices model. One company provides support for both scanner and software, for fast problem resolution without vendor finger-pointing. Download now!
WHITE PAPER
Utilizing demand intelligence improves the precision of pricing, product assortments, channel/store placement, and promotion, which are all essential for sustainable revenue management performance. Learn more, download this free whitepaper today.

White Papers & Webcasts

An All-in-One Approach to Web Security
Granting web access to employees poses challenges to IT administrators and introduces unique security risks. Even as companies have perfected their security techniques...  

Usability Is Everything
Learn what sets Workday's HR and Payroll solutions apart from the competition....

The Hidden Dangers of Spam
Beyond the well-understood productivity drain that spam inflicts on businesses, threats posed by illicit email circulating through a network are causing many security...  

The Value of Real SaaS at Workday
Cost savings, speed to value, and innovation brought to the enterprise by Workday's software-as-a-service solutions for HR and Payroll....

Case Study: The Ritz London
Discover how the superior capabilities of Webroot E-mail Security SaaS allows user to focus on their principal tasks instead of wasting their time...  

SaaS at Flextronics, Inc.
Dave Smoley, CIO of Flextronics, discusses the real value of software-as-a-service and why he chose Workday for his HR solution....

Case Study: Richmond Ambulance Authority (RAA)
In this case study, find out how Webroot Web Security SaaS delivers the proactive web security RAA needs....  

Why Compliance Pays
This OnDemand webcast explores the relationship that firms with best compliance records have higher revenue, greater customer retention, lower financial losses from data...

Can Heuristic Technology Help Your Company Fight Viruses?
(Source: MessageLabs - now part of Symantec) In the face of today's increasingly sophisticated malware, using multiple layers of email and web protection...  

Agile Enterprise Content Management (ECM) for Rapid ROI
Find out how combining ECM and BPM will help adress issues about content rich business processes....