Experts at SophosLabs™, Sophos's global
network of virus, spyware and spam analysis centers, have warned
computer users of a new email-aware worm that poses as a number of
false breaking news stories - including the outbreak of nuclear war
and the death of George W Bush and Vladimir Putin - in an attempt
by hackers to infect computers and steal information.
The W32/Dref-N
worm may arrive in an email message with the following
characteristics:
Subject line: chosen from
White house news!
READ AND RESEND ASAP!
NEWS!
ATTN TO EVERYBODY!
Incredible news!
ATTN
URGENT NEWS!
URG
Message text: chosen from
3rd Glogal War Just Started!!! Read more in file!
Nuclear War in Russia! Read news in file!
President Bush DEAD! Read attached file!
Putin and Bush starts NUCLEAR WAR! Check the file!
Nuclear WAR in USA! Read attached file!
GLOBAL NUCLEAR WAR JUST STARTED! News in file.
President Putin dead! Read more in attached
file!
Attached file: chosen from
truth.exe, last.exe, lasest news.exe,
never.exe, war.exe, about me.exe,
a.exe, read me.exe, or open.exe .
Opening the attached file disables the Windows firewall, and
allows external hackers to gain access to the system.
"Users may think that they are receiving these emails from their
friends, family and colleagues, but in fact it is a worm that has
infected the sender's computer and distributed the message," said
Graham Cluley,
senior technology consultant at Sophos. "While many of these news
hooks may sound totally implausible, it's amazing how many users
still allow temptation to get the better of them, and click on the
infected file. The simple advice is that if you suspect there's a
breaking news story, turn on the TV or visit your favorite news
website to see if it has any basis in truth."
Sophos's anti-malware products were automatically updated to
protect against the W32/Dref-N worm at 05:05 GMT on 7 November
2006.
Sophos recommends companies automatically update their corporate
virus protection, and run a consolidated
solution at the email gateway to defend against viruses,
spyware and spam.
Sophos is headquartered in Boston, US and Oxford, UK. More information is available at www.sophos.com.