Saturday, July 12, 2008

McAfee Warns: The Storm Worm's Latest Disguise

[Any time you download ANY file (other than from trusted sources such as Microsoft and iTunes), save it to your desktop, make sure your virus scanner is up-to-date, and then scan the new file (right-click and select Scan for Viruses) before opening the file. -PhD]

Storm worm exploits U.S., Iran tensions

McAfee warns users to be wary of e-mails with the headers 'The beginning of World War III' and 'USA declares war on Iran'

By Oliver Garnham
July 10, 2008

http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/07/10/Storm_worm_exploits_US_Iran_tensions_1.html

The authors of Nuwar -- also known as the Storm worm -- are exploiting the escalating political tensions between the U.S. and Iran to encourage users to download the malware, according to McAfee Avert Labs.

The security firm has warned people to be wary of e-mails with the headers "The beginning of World War III" and "USA declares war on Iran." The e-mails promise to link to a video showing the beginning of World War III, but clicking on the link actually triggers an automatic download of the file iran_occupation.exe, McAfee said.

The Storm worm was first detected in January 2007, but has reappeared in various guises several times over the past 18 months.

The malware has been used in a confirmation spam scam and has been employed in blogs and Web message forums. It also hit the headlines in April when malware makers gave it an April Fool's Day theme.

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