Sophos, a world leader in corporate anti-virus protection, is today warning users about a potentially destructive new virus which poses as a nude picture of Latino lovely Jennifer Lopez.
Ironically appearing on the same day that the annual 'rear of the year' winners were announced, the worm, which appears to have been written in Algeria, arrives in an email with the subject line "Where are you?". The message body reads "This is my pic in the beach" and has an attached file called JENNIFERLOPEZ_NAKED.JPG.VBS.
If users open the attached file the virus forwards itself to everyone in their address book, potentially creating a vast amount of email in the style of the Love Bug or Kournikova worms. It then overwrites music and graphic files on your hard disk. Finally, the virus launches the highly destructive Chernobyl (also known as CIH) virus which is capable of totally paralysing a computer, requiring a hardware fix.
"The lure of Miss Lopez's bottom may be too hard for some hot blooded males to resist,", said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos Anti-Virus. "Jennifer Lopez was recently voted the world's sexiest woman by the readers of FHM magazine, and it isn't difficult to see why a virus writer would use her as the bait to entrap innocent users. Users need to take a cold shower and be cautious of opening any unsolicited email attachments."
As yet, Sophos has not received any reports of this worm, but are nonetheless encouraging users to be vigilant.
Sophos is headquartered in Boston, US and Oxford, UK. More information is available at www.sophos.com.