Mon Jul 15, 2:46 PM ET
InternetWeek.com, InternetWeek
A new e-mail-borne worm discovered Monday targets Microsoft Windows and sends messages to addresses found in the Windows Address Book.
The worm arrives by mail with the subject line “Re: your password!” and exploits vulnerabilities to execute when the recipient reads or previews the file. The worm sleeps for several hours, and then copies itself to a Windows directory so it can be executed each time Windows is started.
The worm is called W32.Frethem.K@mm. It uses its own Simple Mail Transfer Protocol engine to send itself to e-mail addresses that it finds in the Microsoft Windows Address Book and in .dbx, .wab, .mbx, .eml, and .mdb files. It doesn't affect Unix, Macintosh, or Linux systems.
Security software vendor Symantec rates its potential damage low, but distribution high because of the possibility of large-scale e-mail distribution.
InternetWeek.com, InternetWeek
A new e-mail-borne worm discovered Monday targets Microsoft Windows and sends messages to addresses found in the Windows Address Book.
The worm arrives by mail with the subject line “Re: your password!” and exploits vulnerabilities to execute when the recipient reads or previews the file. The worm sleeps for several hours, and then copies itself to a Windows directory so it can be executed each time Windows is started.
The worm is called W32.Frethem.K@mm. It uses its own Simple Mail Transfer Protocol engine to send itself to e-mail addresses that it finds in the Microsoft Windows Address Book and in .dbx, .wab, .mbx, .eml, and .mdb files. It doesn't affect Unix, Macintosh, or Linux systems.
Security software vendor Symantec rates its potential damage low, but distribution high because of the possibility of large-scale e-mail distribution.