Computer users have been warned to watch out for a
talking virus. The new attack, detected byPandaLabs, uses the Windows text
reader to play the following sentences:
“You has [sic] been infected. I repeat you has been infected
and your system files has been deleted. Sorry. Have a nice day and
bye bye.”
PandaLabs said the comments are repeated over and over again
while the
Trojan tries to delete the entire content of the computer’s
hard disc. Researchers at the antivirus software company warned
that even if the virus fails to wipe the user’s hard disk, it may
still delete essential Widows files, which could prevent the
operating system from working when the machine is next
rebooted.
Luis Corrons, Technical Director of PandaLabs, said, “This is a
very peculiar Trojan. Not only does it delete computer files, but
it also makes fun of users. Additionally, it does everything
necessary to make it impossible to stop its actions.”
Infection can occur over
P2P networks; through physical storage devices such as USB
memory sticks, floppy disks or CD-ROMs; and via downloads performed
by other
malware or from malicious web pages, PandaSoft warned.
In his blog posting about evolving virus threats, Mark Long, who
works in Microsoft support, said, “Increasingly, we are seeing that
applications are the target and any common application might be the
next vector. It is no longer just about attacking the operating
system.
YouTube Trojan steals data >>
Panda's virus
encyclopedia >>
Trojan rootkits spread on the web >>
Malware learning guide >>
Comment on this article:
computer.weekly@rbi.co.uk