21 Aug 2003
Macintosh users bugged by Sobig-F worm, Sophos Anti-Virus explains how Windows worm can be a nuisance
Sophos technical support has received a number of calls from
Apple Macintosh users concerned about the fast-spreading W32/Sobig-F worm.
Although Macintosh computers cannot be infected by the Sobig-F
worm, which is Windows-specific, users can still receive large
numbers of the emails generated by the worm in their inbox. One
unfortunate home user has reported receiving over 6000 instances of
the Sobig-F worm in their private email account. All such emails
have to be deleted if they are not blocked at the email
gateway.
Furthermore, some Macintosh users have received numerous
warnings that their computers are infected by W32/Sobig-F because
they have received emails from poorly set-up auto-responders at
email gateways. These warnings are nonsense, and the consequence of
a computer automatically replying to an infected email (not
realising that W32/Sobig-F forges the 'sender' information), but
that has not stopped some Macintosh users from worrying that they
may have been infected after all.
"Macintosh owners can safely delete any emails they receive
warning they are infected and copies of the worm which are sent to
them," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos
Anti-Virus. "Even though Macintoshes are immune from infection from
W32/Sobig-F they may still experience email slowdown simply because
of the vast number of emails flying around the internet, clogging
up the email systems of companies."
Sophos has published more information on how
auto-responders have contributed to the problem, rather than eased
the current difficulties with email worldwide.
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.