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You've got virus!
Sober worm masquerades as mail from FBI
BY A CORRESPONDENT
24th November 2005
Got mail from FBI? Beware. You are just a mouse
click away from a mischievous virus doing the
rounds of the Internet world.
Starting this week, millions of email inboxes
across the world started receiving letters from
FBI (and sometimes CIA and the German police),
saying the computer user has been detected as
having indulged in illegal online computer
acitivity. The user is answerable to the FBI. So,
here is an attachment which lists questions from
FBI...
Open the attchment, and the Sober worm which
masquerades as the question sheet installs itself
on the users computer. Once installed, it searches
the computer's hard drive for the email addresses.
The email engine of the virus is used to send the
same mail to all email ids stored in the computer.
The Sober worm also blocks access to a list of
security websites to prevent the computer user
from getting any online assistance to block the
worm. The worm also opens a "back door" in the
computer's safety settings, to aid a remote hacker
to install malicious software without the user's
knowledge. The compromised computer is turned into
a zombie machine, which mass-mails other
mail-users to spread the worm.
FBI' office has been flooded with complaints this
week about the "FBI" questionnaire. The
investigation agency has been forced to put up a
statement on its site, cautioning surfers about
the virus. The agency also said that it never
indulges in practices like questioning people
through emails.
A computer expert at Sophos said that Sober has
spread with lightning speed, so that one in every
74 email messages circulating is holding the
virus. FBI has already received abut 5000
complaints about the virus. usually, FBI gets only
total of 8000 complaints a month.
BY A CORRESPONDENT |
