This malicious code bearing e-mail message claims to be coming from either the FBI, CIA or German BKA police agency. It warns users they have been detected visiting illegal sites and asks you to open an attachment to answer some official questions. Those opening this questionnaire will be infected by a variant of the well-known 'Sober virus'.
It's being called the worst computer worm of the year, as reported by The Washington Post. Anti-virus firms have caught millions of copies of the malicious program, suggesting a lot of people have fallen for the fake warning.
The worm - named "Sober X" - has spread so far so fast that the CIA and the FBI have put prominent warnings on their Web sites, making clear that they did not send out the e-mail and urging people to not open the attachment. The FBI is currently investigating the source of the attack.
"Sober X" upon infection, disables security and firewall programs and blast out similar e-mails to contacts in your address book. It can also prevent you from connecting to computer security Web sites that might help to fix the problem, and it may open up your computer to intruders who can steal your personal data and information.
Sober is known to affect only those computers running the Windows operating system. It appears that Apple and Linux computer users were not affected.
Read more Articles on this:
Fake FBI virus catches net users
BBC News [Thursday, 24 November 2005]
BBC News [Thursday, 24 November 2005]
Computer Worm Poses as E-Mail From FBI, CIA
Washington Post [Thursday, November 24, 2005]
Washington Post [Thursday, November 24, 2005]
Latest Sober threatens e-mail gateways
ZDNet News [November 23, 2005]
ZDNet News [November 23, 2005]
FBI warns about sober variant email scam
Xinhua News Agency [2005-11-24]
Xinhua News Agency [2005-11-24]
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