Anti-virus software makers yesterday warned computer users to be aware of a new virus called "Mydoom" or "Novarg" that may have swept through about 30,000 computers globally and was considered the worst attack since last August.
"We are glad that the virus has done little damage to Taiwanese users on the first day they were back to work," said Ann Teng (
Mydoom, also known as "W32.Novarg.A@mm" or "WORM_MIMAIL.R," is a mass-mailing worm that arrives as an e-mail attachment. When opened, the attachment sets up a backdoor into the computer system, allowing a hacker to utilize the machine as a proxy. The proxy can then make use of a computer's network to send out more viruses.
Mydoom is considered more powerful than other viruses because it can randomly change the e-mail attachments it sends, using titles such as "Hi" or "Test" to lure users to open it, Teng said. The virus also spoofs the sender name of its e-mail so that they appear to have been sent by different users other than the actual user on the infected machine, she said.
As a result, Trend Micro declared a medium alert for Mydoom, and Symantec Crop, the world's largest maker of anti-virus software, rated the virus a "Level 4" attack, the same level as the notorious "Blaster" worm in August last year. Network Associates Inc, makers of McAfee security software, rated Mydoom more severe than "SoBig" that affected hundreds of thousands of computers also last August.
As of the press time, Symantec had received 1,990 Mydoom infection reports worldwide, including 10 from the Asia-Pacific region.
Lin Ching-ho (
The Mydoom worm runs on Windows 98, ME, NT, 2000 and XP operating systems, and it attacks the Web site of SCO Group Inc, which is seeking royalties from companies that use the Linux operating system. It is programmed to cease the attack on Feb. 12.
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