Computer virus warrior Trend Micro (趨勢科技) received 150 calls yesterday from companies seeking help with a bug that has arrived just in time for the holiday season.
The "Navidad" worm comes in the form of an e-mail attachment. If opened, the bug renders temporarily inoperable applications such as Internet Explorer and Microsoft Office.
The worm then multiplies by resending itself to other computer users, looking up names in the infected computer's address book for potential victims.
According to Axl Yen (
The attachment, called "navidad.exe," is mainly in Spanish and was first discovered on Nov. 7 in South America by security experts at anti-virus firm McAfee.
According to Yen, the code's author attempted to lessen the worm's impact by offering a warning.
When the Navidad attachment is opened, a message in Spanish reads: "Nunca presionar este boton," or "never press this button."
If the button is pressed, another message says, "Feliz Navidad. Lamentablemente cayo en la tentacion y perdio su computadora."
Translation: "Merry Christmas. Unfortunately you've given in to temptation and lost your computer."
The worm then attempts to multiply by replying to e-mails residing in a computer user's inbox.
But Yen said that infected computers aren't actually damaged, though applications are left temporarily inoperable.
"The glitch created by Navidad is not as destructive as people would expect, but it may cause your Windows system to lock up," Yen said.
While Yen said the worm doesn't damage computers, he warned that Navidad spreads fast, especially in large corporate server systems where Microsoft's Outlook software is popular.
According to media reports, several Internet-related firms, big corporations, educational institutes, media and even the DPP headquarters were hit by the worm yesterday. Apart from Taiwan, at least 10 Fortune 500 companies have been infected.
To tackle the bug, two local antivirus companies -- Trend Micro and Symantec -- offer free software downloads over the Web.
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