A new e-mail virus is on the loose, according to Computer Associates International.
The "Tqll-A" worm is typically found in electronic messages bearing a Happy New Year greeting in the subject field, said Ian Hameroff, business manager for antivirus solutions for Computer Associates (CA).
The latest threat, which CA detected at its global research centers, conveys itself via Microsoft Outlook. When people open the "happynewyear.txt.vbs" attachment, the virus then installs itself on the user's hard drive.
Windows drops the second extension so the attachment appears to be a harmless .txt file. Even many non-techie PC users will not open .vbs attachments because they have been used to propagate viruses.
Should a user open the attachment, the worm installs a Trojan , executing as "3k.exe," which then attempts to download another file, "Teen.exe," from several websites, Hameroff said.
CA, Islandia, NY, characterized this as a low- to mid-level threat. "We haven' t had any incidents reported to us but received a sample through our normal research," he said.
Whoever wrote the virus program is betting that a seemingly innocuous e-mail greeting in the subject line will persuade users to open the e-mail.
The Trojan then uses Outlook's address book to send itself out to more people.
from techweb
The "Tqll-A" worm is typically found in electronic messages bearing a Happy New Year greeting in the subject field, said Ian Hameroff, business manager for antivirus solutions for Computer Associates (CA).
The latest threat, which CA detected at its global research centers, conveys itself via Microsoft Outlook. When people open the "happynewyear.txt.vbs" attachment, the virus then installs itself on the user's hard drive.
Windows drops the second extension so the attachment appears to be a harmless .txt file. Even many non-techie PC users will not open .vbs attachments because they have been used to propagate viruses.
Should a user open the attachment, the worm installs a Trojan , executing as "3k.exe," which then attempts to download another file, "Teen.exe," from several websites, Hameroff said.
CA, Islandia, NY, characterized this as a low- to mid-level threat. "We haven' t had any incidents reported to us but received a sample through our normal research," he said.
Whoever wrote the virus program is betting that a seemingly innocuous e-mail greeting in the subject line will persuade users to open the e-mail.
The Trojan then uses Outlook's address book to send itself out to more people.
from techweb
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