Email a collegue.| Headline: | Worm masquerades as plea for Tsunami aid |
| Description: | The W32/VBSun-A worm spreads via e-mail, tempting innocent users into clicking onto its malicious attachment by pretending to be information about how to donate to a tsunami relief effort.
However, running the attached file will not only forward the virus to other internet users but can also initiate a denial-of-service attack against a German hacking website. E-mails sent by the worm have the “Tsunami Donation! Please help!� subject line, and the “Please help us with your donation and view the attachment below! We need you!� message text. The attachment’s name is “tsunami.exe�. "Duping innocent users into believing that they may be helping the tsunami disaster aid efforts shows hackers stooping to a new low," said Graham Cluley, Sophos senior technology consultant. "This gruesome insensitivity is a despicable ploy to get curious computer users to run malicious code on their computers. Everyone should be wary of unsolicited e-mail attachments," he said. W32/VBSun-A is not the first virus to try and take advantage of the tsunami disaster in an attempt to spread. The VBS/Geven-B worm tried to spread a message earlier this month that the tsunami was God's revenge on "people who did bad on Earth". There have also been a number of e-mail scams distributed by criminals posing as victims in an attempt to steal money. Sophos said that so far there have only been a small number of reports of the W32/VBSun-A worm. |
| Date: | 26.01.2005 |
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