E-mail users be aware. A computer virus hit Taiwan yesterday, firing off infected e-mails disguised to fool friends and colleagues into opening a file laced with a virus surprise.
The electronic file destroyer shows up in e-mail boxes with a friendly note saying "Hi! How are you?" The note comes from an acquaintance and the body of the letter reads, "I send you this file in order to have your advice." Opening the attachment -- which looks like a dotcom instead of an .exe file -- unleashes a virus of an older strain known as Trojan, which has been re-mixed to wreak havoc on unsuspecting victims.
Dubbed "Sircam," the virus also runs under the pseudonyms TROJ_SIRCAM.A., SCAM.A, or W32.Sircam.Worm@mm. This worm propagates by sending copies of itself to all addresses listed in an infected user's e-mail address book. It arrives with a friendly name and subject line and once opened, starts sending itself out again.
"Support inquiries [on Sircam] in Taiwan have been climbing each business day since last week," said John DeRiso, spokesman for Trend Micro Inc (
Now, Sircam is number one. Trend Micro, Symantec's AntiVirus Research Center (SARC), and McAfee.com -- both bug-battling computer software vendors -- placed red alerts on the computer critter early yesterday, placing information and the antidote on www.antivirus.com. Without the antidote the virus will delete all files on a user's hard drive on Oct. 16.
What is unique about this bug is that even people who do not use Microsoft Outlook need to be wary.
When the "I LOVE YOU" and "Anna Kournikova" viruses circumnavigated the globe last year, some users rested easy, knowing that these villains only targeted Microsoft Outlook. Netscape users, for example, were relatively safe.
But Sircam is different. This intruder goes for any Windows-based e-mail system, deletes files, discloses confidential information by sending it out in other e-mails along with the virus, and it reproduces fast.
"From what I understand, Sircam doesn't get its addresses from your outlook address book, but instead goes to your Internet Cache, which means that if you have been to a Web site that has e-mail addresses on it, those people will get the virus from you too."
Believed to have originated in Latin America, Sircam was first detected early last week. Since then, the virus has spread worldwide. Although no official figures are available for Taiwan, Trend Micro officials said the firms' anti-virus lab in Taipei received at least 20 calls from corporate customers yesterday.
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