Experts suspect fear-mongering as a motivation for the ‘low-threat’ virus. Antivirus researchers late yesterday discovered what is being described as the first of potentially many 9/11 anniversary viruses spreading on the Internet. While it’s too early to tell what, if any, damage the new virus is causing, Eric Kwon, president and CEO of San Jose-based Hauri Inc., the company that discovered the virus, said its effect seems to be similar to that of the recent outbreak of the Sobig worm, which overloaded e-mail servers with large volumes of spam. The 9/11 virus contains the headline “It’s Near 911” or a similar variation, as well as an attachment labeled “911.jpg.” Users shouldn’t open the e-mail or the attached file. “Like previous worm viruses, the 9/11 virus collects e-mail lists from Microsoft Outlook in order to spread more rapidly, using the provocative headline about 9/11 to get the unsuspecting user to open the e-mail,” said Kwon. “In this case, there also appears to be an intention of causing fear, as well as a possible political motivation.” Full Story
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