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| The number of new versions of the Bagle worm has
continued to increase. |
Anti-virus experts at Sophos have warned internet users to be on
the lookout for a new variant of the Bagle email worm which has
been seen spreading quickly in the wild. Sophos is advising
computer users to ensure their anti-virus protection is up-to-date
to protect against attacks via email.
The W32/Bagle-AY worm spreads
via email and peer-to-peer file-sharing networks. It will also
attempt to disable anti-virus and security systems running on
infected PCs.
Subject lines used by the worm include:
Delivery service mail
Delivery by mail
Registration is accepted
Is delivered mail
You are made active
"Everyone should be cautious of unsolicited email attachments,
and be wary of what they download from internet file-sharing
networks," said Graham
Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos. "So far 2005
has been fairly quiet in terms of brand new virus outbreaks - if
everyone applied computer
security common sense it would help keep it that way."
Sophos defends customers with proactive protection
Although the W32/Bagle-AY worm was only discovered on 27 January
2005, Sophos anti-virus products have been capable of detecting it
proactively through their generic detection capabilities as
W32/Bagle-Gen for over 4 months without requiring an update.
"Sophos's proactive detection of this new version of the Bagle
worm demonstrates the expertise of the Sophos research and
development teams, and provides a world class level of protection
to millions of business customers around the globe," continued
Cluley.
Sophos recommends companies protect their email gateways with a
consolidated solution to defend against
viruses and spam. Businesses should also secure their desktop and
servers with automatically updated protection.
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.