Security news29 October 2004
New Bagle worm variant spreading quickly via email, Sophos provides proactive protection
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| A number of different versions of the Bagle worm have been spreading all year. |
Anti-virus experts at Sophos have warned 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 users to ensure their anti-virus protection is up-to-date to protect against attacks via email.
Sophos has received many reports of the W32/Bagle-AU worm, and users opening their email today may be at risk from infection if not properly protected.
Typical emails sent by the Bagle-AU worm have subject lines such as "Re: Hello" or "Re: Thank you!", and contain file attachments with names like "Price" or "Joke". If the file attachment is launched the virus infects the computer, and attempts to spread to other email addresses.
"Companies around the globe are reporting a large number of instances of this new worm at their email gateways. Everyone who has a computer needs to ensure they are protected against this new version of the Bagle worm, as it could easily clog up email boxes and slow communications down to treacle if it reaches a critical mass," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos. "With so many new viruses emerging every month it's essential to have a reliable anti-virus defence with an easy automatic updating system in place."
Sophos defends customers with proactive protection
Although the W32/Bagle-AU worm was only discovered on 29 October 2004, Sophos anti-virus products have been capable of detecting it proactively through their generic detection capabilities as W32/Bagle-Gen since 22 September 2004, without requiring an update.
"Sophos's proactive detection of this new version of the Bagle worm demonstrates the high quality of the work done by our 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 thwart the virus and spam threats as well as secure their desktop and servers with automatically updated anti-virus protection.
