A new virus highlighting the friction between Muslims and
Buddhists in Sri Lanka holds little threat to computer users
according to Sophos Anti-Virus. However, the Mawanella worm (also
known as VBS/VBSWG-Z), named after a
Muslim village, is yet another illustration of virus writers using
malicious code as a political platform.
The worm arrives as an email with the subject line 'Mawanella'.
If launched, it then proceeds to forward itself to everyone in the
user's address book. Once activated, a message appears describing
the burning down of two mosques and one hundred Muslim-owned shops
in Mawanella.
"Ken from Walsall doesn't normally send you emails about Sri
Lankan villages. Most people would be suspicious if they received
an email like this from a friend or colleague, so we aren't
expecting the Mawanella worm to spread extensively," said Graham
Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos Anti-Virus.
"Although politically-motivated viruses are on the rise, they are
unlikely to spread as far as those that rely on the psychology of
sex."
Previous politically-motivated viruses include the Injustice
worm (also known as VBS/Staple-A), which
disseminated pro-Palestinian messages and spammed a number of
Israeli Government email addresses.
Sophos reminds users that if they have updated their anti-virus
protection and follow a policy of not opening unsolicited or
suspicious attachments, worms and viruses such as Mawanella hold
little threat.
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.
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