Virus Alert! Don't go near "Miss World" (6/8/01)

Question

Virus Alert! "Miss World" flash movie is dangerous! (6/8/01)

Answer

This question was answered on June 8, 2001. Much of the information contained herein may have changed since posting.

An e-mail based trojan called "Miss World" is in the wild and causing damage to those that open the attached file.

It is not widespread at this time, but it is a potentially dangerous trojan horse and because of the sex angle has the potential to lure large numbers of unwary PC users.

What to watch for:

Recipients will see the title "Miss World" in the e-mail header.

Because it is hidden in a "flash" movie (animation) it can unleash its damage in the background and send itself to everyone in an Outlook address book.

As it executes, the virus attempts to format the "C:\" drive and delete Windows registry files. After flashing up a window with the text "I fall more in love with you each day," the program e-mails a copy of the virus to all users in the user's Outlook address book.

If you follow our previous advice of never opening any e-mail attachments that have an "exe" extension, you will not be hit by this virus.

If you do receive any e-mail messages that refer to Miss World, MsWorld or has an attached file with an "exe" extension, delete it immediately and send a message to the original sender asking if they knew that they sent the message.

Author

Posted by Ken of Data Doctors on June 8, 2001