Security news
Security news21 April 2004
Zafi worm displays political tirade - Sophos comments
Researchers at Sophos, a world leader in protecting businesses against viruses and spam, have advised users about the new W32/Zafi-A worm which, if run, will display a political message on 1 May calling for Hungarian patriotism.
The worm's message is timed to coincide with the date that Hungary joins the European Union and, when executed, displays the following (translated) text:
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People! Hundreds of thousands, millions of Hungarian people live day to day and die from starvation, thirst and poverty in our country.
This is while many villainous MPs make millions, and don't even think about what is happening to us.
Puppets are in control. They increase our salaries while doubling our taxes. They talk about justice while their laws protect criminals. They rather waste money on Formula 1 while homeless people die on the streets every day and patients suffer in hospitals without the proper equipment.
Why - why can nobody see this??? Why isn't there a true Hungarian patriot, who puts solving the severe problems of this country ahead his own benefits!!! It is not enough just to want, to talk, or to give speeches about the good and the nice. There must be action. Something must be done by everybody and for everybody!
"This is not the first time that viruses have been used to propagate political messages," said Carole Theriault, security consultant, Sophos. "Previous worms have attacked world leaders such as Bill Clinton and last year the Quaters worm attacked Tony Blair's policy on immigration. The author of this worm clearly feels he or she has an important point to make, but doing it at the expense of computer users isn't a sensible move."
Sophos reports that the Zafi worm will spread only to Hungarian email addresses, but reminds users that a safe computing policy and up-to-date anti-virus software will nullify the risk of infection.
