Tech Alert Briefing for 8/19/2003
New Strain of Sobig Virus Spreading Rapidly Across the Net
The first signs of a new variant of the Sobig.F virus came as mail servers across the net were deluged with virus laden emails bearing subject lines such as "That movie" or "Wicked Screensaver".
Using a built-in SMTP engine, Sobig.F attempts to replicate itself by sending out infected emails containing copies of the virus.When a user opens the attached (pif or scr) executable file, the virus runs arbitrary code on the target machine.According to CERT, this worm can potentially compromise confidential information, or set up and run other services, such as open mail relays.
Anti-virus maker Sophos has released a Sobig.F disinfection tool on their web site.
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