virus that disguises itself as a joke is spreading

Joke e-mail virus tricks users



A virus that disguises itself as a joke is spreading

rapidly across the net.



Anti-virus firms are issuing high-level warnings about

the new version of the Bagle e-mail program that seems

to be catching a lot of people out.



The Windows virus grabs e-mail addresses from

Microsoft Outlook and uses its own mail sending

software to spread itself to new victims.



When it infects a machine, the Bagle variant turns off

security measures that usually protect PCs.



Spreading fast



The new variant is called Bagle.AT, Bagle.BB and

Bagle.AU and the attachment bearing the virus code is

labelled as either "joke" or "price".



	

BAGLE SUBJECT LINES

Re:,

Re: Hello

Re: Hi

Re: Thank you!

Re: Thanks :)

The body of the virus usually contains nothing but a

smiley or emoticon.



The virus can strike computers running Windows 95, 98,

ME, NT, 2000 and XP.



Users will be infected if they open the attachment

that travels with the e-mail.



As well as plundering Microsoft Outlook for e-mail

addresses to send itself to, Bagle.AT also tries to

turn off the firewall and security centre services on

Windows XP machines.



BBC News Online has received five warnings about the

virus from security companies. Finnish company

F-Secure gave the virus its second highest threat

level.



"We've had several reports all over the world," said

Mikko Hypponen, director of anti-virus research for

F-Secure.



Security firm Network Box said that it stopped more

than 30,000 copies an hour of the virus as the

outbreak reached a peak.



Black Spider said it had stopped more than 1 million

copies of Bagle.AT since the outbreak began at 0630

BST (0530 GMT).



Anti-virus firms urged users to be wary of unexpected

e-mail messages bearing attachments and to update

their software to ensure they are protected against

the latest threats.



http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/3965721.stm