Feb 12, 2008 4:00 pm US/Eastern
FBI Warns Of Valentine's Day Storm Worm Virus
E-Mail Virus Could Lead To Identity Theft, Denial Of Service Attacks
WASHINGTON (CBS) ―
First it was worms in your Valentine's Day chocolate. Now it's worms in your Valentine's Day e-mail.
The FBI issued a warning Tuesday that a malicious e-mail virus concealing itself in what appears to be a Valentine's Day e-card is spreading across the Internet.
With the romantic holiday just two days away, officials believe the "Storm Worm" virus will be making its rounds and causing headaches for many. In the e-mail, recipients are told they've been sent a special Valentine's Day greeting from a secret admirer. They're instructed to click on a link in the e-mail to retrieve the greeting, but instead of receiving encouraging words of love, they'll instantly download the troublesome software.
Lance Ulanoff, Editor-in-Chief of PC Magazine, tells WCBSTV.com the virus originated in 2007 and tends to be a "seasonal" virus that often reappears during certain holidays.
"It's a great concern because people get it as a greeting card, and obviously people will be getting lots of Valentine's Day cards over the next few days," Ulanoff says. "People need to be aware of something coming from someone they dont know."
The virus connects the recipient to the "Storm Worm botnet," a network controlled by the creator of the virus. Botnets allow the crooked e-mailer to engage in online crime including identity theft, denial of service attacks, sending of spam e-mail, and spreading the virus to others.
Ulanoff stresses it's important for everyone to be conscious of each and every e-mail opened, and he offers this advice for virus prevention and protection:
"Never open an email from someone you don't know, be wary of receiving attchment e-mails from someone you do know, and keep security software running on your computer at all times," he says.
There's no telling just how many people are already or are likely to be infected with the virus; but Ulanoff says thanks to alerts from the FBI and other law enforcement agencies, as well better security software installed on most computers, it's likely the spreading of the virus will be minimal.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
2009 Celebrity Deaths
Click to enlarge
Stumble It!
Comments