13 Feb 2003
New worm touts more unauthorised Catherine Zeta-Jones snaps, reveals Sophos Anti-Virus
Sophos has today detected a new computer worm which claims to
have pictures of Catherine Zeta-Jones in poses which are unlikely
to have been authorised by the Hollywood star.
Users of the KaZaA file sharing system and IRC instant messaging
are duped into opening a file that contains compromising pictures
of Catherine Zeta-Jones and other celebrities such as Britney
Spears, Shakira and Sarah Michelle Gellar. In fact, they are
activating the Igloo worm (W32/Igloo-15), a backdoor
Trojan horse that actually allows another computer user to take
control of their PC across the internet.
"It is ironic that supposed photos of Catherine Zeta-Jones are
being used to try to spread a virus at the same time that she's in
the courts fighting Hello! magazine over the publication of
unauthorised snaps," said Graham Cluley, senior technology
consultant at Sophos Anti-Virus. "We all know the saying that
curiosity killed the cat. In this case the curious user looking for
dirty pictures of celebs is likely to be one who is
compromised."
Sophos has received queries from concerned customers but no
actual reports of infections at present, but reminds users that a
safe computing policy and up to date anti-virus software will
nullify the risk of infection. Sophos recommends companies set
policies about whether their users should be allowed to access
KaZaA and IRC systems in the workplace.
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.