28 Jul 2000
Focus on VBS/Kakworm - are you protected?
VBS/Kakworm is an
in-the-wild worm that exploits security vulnerabilities in
Microsoft Internet Explorer and Microsoft Outlook in a similar way
to the much publicised
VBS/BubbleBoy-A.
Sophos issued an email alert on VBS/Kakworm, which is detected
by Sophos Anti-Virus 3.31 or later, in January 2000.
Sophos InterCheck on-access scanner users should ensure "HTA" is
in their list of extensions to check by default.
VBS/Kakworm appears to be extremely widespread, and Sophos
researchers believe this is largely because individuals and
companies have not applied a patch first issued by Microsoft in
August 1999.
Microsoft's patch eliminates security vulnerabilities associated
with two ActiveX controls (scriptlet.typelib and Eyedog). According
to Microsoft these vulnerabilities occur with Internet Explorer 4.0
and 5.0 and could allow malicious code to run on a user's
machine.
This patch protects users from attacks such as those by
VBS/Kakworm as well as VBS/BubbleBoy-A.
For further information and to download the patch please view
Microsoft Security Bulletin
(MS99-032). We strongly recommend you install this patch.
Please read the Instructions for
disinfecting VBS/Kakworm.
About Sophos
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.