Sophos, a world-leader in anti-virus and anti-spam protection
for businesses, is advising users to be on their guard for a range
of new variants of the Mimail virus, which can mount denial of
service (DoS) attacks against a number of servers on the
internet.
The Mimail-C and Mimail-F variants attack servers associated
with on-line gaming, whilst the Mimail-E and Mimail-H variants
attack servers involved in the fight against spam.
"Protection against viruses is important enough for your own
network," said Paul Ducklin, Head of Technology, Asia Pacific at
Sophos in Sydney. "But when infection can lead to collateral damage
against other innocent parties, the precautions you take become
important for the internet as a whole."
Sophos also advises that the recently-discovered Sober-A virus,
which sends out emails in English or German according to your
internet domain, remains the most commonly reported virus over the
past 24 hours. Mimail (in its several variant forms) comes in
second place.
Fortunately, the Torvil virus, which claims to offer "real
outtakes" from the popular TV show Sex & the City, has yet to
make itself known in Australia and New Zealand.
"Emails making raunchy promises have been successful in helping
to spread viruses in the past," says Ducklin, who notes that a
range of female stars such as Anna Kournikova, Avril Lavigne and
Kylie Minogue have been exploited by virus writers in the past.
"Let's hope that the Torvil virus has failed to take hold at least
in part because of increased vigilance by users," he added.
