MyDoom virus
My inbox this morning had at least thirty emails containing this new MyDoom virus. In case you haven’t heard, do NOT open the file attachment on these emails. This is a nasty, extremely fast-spreading virus, and mail servers everywhere are getting so clogged they are either very slow or completey dead. Symantec has full details.
If the attachments are opened, they can infect computers.
They can also hijack computers for “denial-of-service attacks” against individual Web sites, or install spy-ware programs that steal passwords or other private information.
Interestingly, the virus appears aimed at SCO Linux.
MyDoom Virus Could be ‘Linux War’ Weapon
A fast-spreading mass-mailing virus has emerged as an unlikely weapon in the ongoing ‘Linux War’ between the SCO Group and the open-source community.
Anti-virus experts have increased the threat level on the MyDoom virus, which is spreading like wildfire through e-mail in-boxes worldwide and is programmed to launch a massive distributed denial-of-service (DDos) attack against the SCO home page.
“This one is pretty bad. It’s widespread and it only looks to be increasing,” said Chris Belthoff, a senior security analyst at Sophos, Inc. “This takes the Linux Wars to a new intensity. It appears that the author of MyDoom may have taken the war of words from the courtrooms and Internet message boards to a new level . . . If we ever get our hands on MyDoom’s creator our guess is that he will be an open source sympathizer.”
Belthoff told internetnews.com the worm was also capable of squirming through the popular Kazaa peer-to-peer network, making it a bigger threat to succeed in an attack against the SCO site.