Anna Kournikova computer virus hits hard

Tuesday, 13 February, 2001, 12:09 GMT - Anna Kournikova may be a so-so
tennis player but she makes a world-beating computer virus.

Thousands of people have been tricked into opening a mail message that says
it contains a picture of Anna Kounikova but actually hides a malicious
program.

If set off the program plunders the address book of the Microsoft Outlook
e-mail program and attempts to send itself to all the people listed there.

Virus experts say the bogus mail messages has caused the biggest outbreak
since the ILoveYou virus which struck in May 2000.

The flood of e-mail unleashed by that virus paralysed e-mail servers around
the world.

The Love Bug was successful because people were intrigued to get a message
saying "I Love You" from people they did not know very well.

The Kournikova virus tempts users with the message: "Hi: Check This!", with
what appears to be a picture file labelled "AnnaKournikova.jpg.vbs".

Clicking on the attachment sets off the virus rather than shows an image of
the tennis player.

"Some people are letting their groin do their thinking for them," said
Graham Cluley from anti-virus company Sophos, adding that it was
"depressing" that people can be caught out in this way.

Mr Cluley said hundreds of thousands of people have been hit by the
Kournikova virus in the biggest infection since the ILoveyou outbreak last
year.

He added that the virus program was not well written or doing anything
original but was successful because it played on human frailty - just like
the ILoveYou virus. "People are falling for the same old tricks," he said.


Anti-virus tips:

- Update your anti-virus software regularly

- Don't open unsolicited messages that also have attachments

- Update Microsoft Outlook and limit the types of attachments it will open

- Think before you open a message

- If you received the message, delete it

- Regularly scan your computer for infected files


Anti-virus companies urged people to update the anti-virus software that
scans messages sent to them and to stop files with double extensions
getting through corporate firewalls and mail servers.

The Kournikova virus looks tempting because its attachment uses the .jpg
file extension which usually denotes an image. The second extension on the
file ".vbs", which shows it actually holds a small program, is suppressed
by the Microsoft Outlook program the virus targets.

Following the virus outbreaks in 2000 Microsoft released a patch for
Outlook that stopped it setting off attachments with .vbs extensions.

Although the virus is not believed to damage computers, it could overwhelm
companies' computer systems with the huge volume of e-mails it creates.

The virus, also known as the VBS and SST virus, was first discovered in
August. It appeared to have originated in Europe.

cafe] On Monday it hit e-mail services across the United States and Europe
and was expected to affect tens of thousands of Australian computer users,
said anti-virus research company Trend Micro.

Managing director Kenny Liao said his company knew of at least 50,000
Australian computer users who had been hit.

At least 15 corporations in Australia were severely hit, including a
leading retailer, an information technology firm and several non-profit
organisations, said Mr Liao.

"If we look at the total number of users that have been reported to us and
consider we are only contacting a small portion of the Australian
population, the estimation would be more than 100,000," he said.

Among the organisations affected by Love Bug were the US State Department
and the CIA, the UK parliament, and major companies like Ford and Time-Warner.

A recent report showed attacks by e-mail viruses soared by 300% last year.

Virus-monitoring company MessageLabs said it had detected and stopped
155,528 e-mail viruses by the end of November - a rate of one every three
minutes.

Moscow-born Anna Kournikova, 19, is the world's ninth-ranked female tennis
player.


Related to this story:
Plea to revive Love Bug charges (05 Sep 00 | Asia-Pacific)
Love Bug charges dropped (21 Aug 00 | Asia-Pacific)
Love Bug revenge theory (10 May 00 | Sci/Tech)
Police hunt Love Bug gang (09 May 00 | Sci/Tech)
Warning of more internet attacks (10 May 00 | Sci/Tech)
Defending cyberspace (09 May 00 | Americas)
'Love Bug' bites UK hard (04 May 00 | UK)
E-mail security bubble bursts (15 Nov 99 | Sci/Tech)
Melissa virus goes global (30 Mar 99 | Sci/Tech)

Internet links:
Sophos Virus Information
F-Secure Corporation
Trend Micro
MessageLabs Virus Information

BBC News Online: Sci/Tech
http://news.bbc.co.uk/low/english/sci/tech/newsid_1167000/1167453.stm

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