Elf Bowling game is not infected with a computer virus
The game which stars Santa Claus trying to knock down a pack of
elves with a bowling ball, is causing panic amongst companies
terrified of computer viruses.
Sophos, one of the world's leading anti-virus companies, has
been deluged with requests for information on a "new computer
virus" called ELFBOWL.EXE. Companies have received email warnings
and are naturally concerned that the computer game is genuinely
infected with a virus, designed to trigger on December 25th.
All copies of the game, ELFBOWL.EXE, examined so far by Sophos
Anti-Virus researchers have been found to be uninfected.
"The warning message seems to be spreading rapidly between
companies," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for
Sophos Anti-Virus, "However, all the versions we have seen to date
have been completely harmless and uninfected. Games like this
spread rapidly at Christmas time between workers - although this
game presents no current danger, companies should explain to their
workers the danger of distributing executable files."
Sophos points out that although all samples of ELFBOWL.EXE they
have examined to date have proven to be virus-free, it is possible
for someone to deliberately infect the program at a later date.
Sophos has posted more information about the Elf Bowling hoax
here.
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More than 100 million users in 150 countries rely on Sophos as the best protection against complex threats and data loss. Sophos is committed to providing security and data protection solutions that are simple to manage, deploy and use and that deliver the industry's lowest total cost of ownership. Sophos offers award-winning encryption, endpoint security, web, email, and network access control solutions backed by SophosLabs - a global network of threat intelligence centers. With more than two decades of experience, Sophos is regarded as a leader in security and data protection by top analyst firms and has received many industry awards.
Sophos is headquartered in Boston, US and Oxford, UK. More information is available at www.sophos.com.