12 Feb 2001
Kournikova worm smashes through the net
Sophos Anti-Virus, a world leader in corporate anti-virus
protection, has warned users to be wary of a new in-the-wild worm
that poses as a picture of the popular Russian tennis pin-up, Anna
Kournikova. The worm has been widely reported as infecting users
around the world.
The worm, known as VBS/SST-A, arrives in an email with the
subject line "Here you have, ;0)" and an attached file called
AnnaKournikova.jpg.vbs
When launched the file does not display a picture of Anna
Kournikova but launches a viral Visual Basic Script that forwards
itself to everybody in your Microsoft Outlook address book.
"This virus is the latest to exploit psychology to aid its
spread amongst innocent users," said Graham Cluley, senior
technology consultant for Sophos Anti-Virus. "Pictures of Anna
Kournikova are amongst the most popular on the internet. Our
message to computer users is simple - don't let unsolicited email
attachments lead you into temptation".
Sophos Anti-Virus has issued an update which protects against
VBS/SST-A.
Sophos advises users to remain suspicious and to practise
safe computing all year
round.
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.