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New Virus Spreading Far and Wide
Eight days after hitting the Internet, the W32.Sircam.worm computer virus continues to spread its troubles into the computers of businesses and users across the U.S. and around the globe.
The worm spreads itself automatically through e-mails by sending itself out to everyone in a user's e-mail address book. The virus itself is in an executable file attachment in the e-mails and is started up when a user double-clicks on the file to open it. The damage it can cause ranges from annoyances to file and folder deletions.
The worm has been spreading so quickly that antivirus and security companies on Tuesday began upgrading their warnings about the virus.
The worm has been spreading so quickly that antivirus and security companies on Tuesday began upgrading their warnings about the virus.
Steve Gottwals, director of product marketing at antivirus vendor F-Secure in San Jose, said the Sircam worm is sneakier than others because it attacks all e-mail applications, not just Microsoft Outlook, a favorite hacker target.
Although reports of the virus are coming from around the globe, Gottwals said he hasn't seen a lot of damage yet. That could change in October, when the virus is apparently programmed to erase necessary Microsoft Windows operating system files on about one in 20 of the machines it infects. Damage could occur unless the worm is removed, he said.
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