MagicMtnDan
11-22-2005, 05:35 PM
Newest version of Sober virus generates millions of e-mails
Updated: 7:19 p.m. ET Nov. 22, 2005
It looks like an e-mail from the FBI, or a note promising pictures of Paris Hilton -- but some anti-virus companies are now calling it the most widespread computer virus outbreak of the year.
Sober-Y, the latest variation of a computer virus that was first released almost two years ago, surprised analysts Tuesday by gaining traction and rocketing millions of e-mails around the world.
MessageLabs, a software company that filters e-mails, said it had stopped three million copies of Sober-infected e-mails in the first 24-hours after the virus began circulating. Paul Wood, a senior analyst at MessageLabs, said that as of 5 p.m. ET, the firm was trapping 200,000 copies of the worm each hour.
"It's surprisingly bad," said Mikko Hypponen, a virus researcher at F-Secure.com. "In sheer amount of e-mails, it's larger than any outbreak of the year." On Tuesday afternoon, F-Secure raised its threat level for the virus to its most severe rating. Other anti-virus firms also raised their threat levels during the afternoon.
Sober has been successful, experts say, because it piggybacks on earlier versions of the virus that have already infected computers. Those computers -- perhaps tens of thousands around the world, according to Symantec's Alfred Huger -- form a "bot-net" network that's controlled by the virus writer.
Updated: 7:19 p.m. ET Nov. 22, 2005
It looks like an e-mail from the FBI, or a note promising pictures of Paris Hilton -- but some anti-virus companies are now calling it the most widespread computer virus outbreak of the year.
Sober-Y, the latest variation of a computer virus that was first released almost two years ago, surprised analysts Tuesday by gaining traction and rocketing millions of e-mails around the world.
MessageLabs, a software company that filters e-mails, said it had stopped three million copies of Sober-infected e-mails in the first 24-hours after the virus began circulating. Paul Wood, a senior analyst at MessageLabs, said that as of 5 p.m. ET, the firm was trapping 200,000 copies of the worm each hour.
"It's surprisingly bad," said Mikko Hypponen, a virus researcher at F-Secure.com. "In sheer amount of e-mails, it's larger than any outbreak of the year." On Tuesday afternoon, F-Secure raised its threat level for the virus to its most severe rating. Other anti-virus firms also raised their threat levels during the afternoon.
Sober has been successful, experts say, because it piggybacks on earlier versions of the virus that have already infected computers. Those computers -- perhaps tens of thousands around the world, according to Symantec's Alfred Huger -- form a "bot-net" network that's controlled by the virus writer.