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Saturday, January 20, 2007
HELSINKI: Computer virus writers started to use raging European storms on Friday to attack thousands of computers in an unusual real-time assault, head of research at Finnish data security firm F-Secure told Reuters.
The virus, which the company named 'Storm Worm' is sent to hundreds of thousands of email addresses globally, with the e-mail's subject line saying "230 dead as storm batters Europe."
The attached file contains the so-called malware that can infiltrate computer systems.
"What makes this exceptional is the timely nature of the attack," Mikko Hypponen, head of research at F-Secure said.
Hypponen said thousands of computers around the world, most in private use, had been affected.
He said most users would not notice the malware, or trojan, which creates a back door to the computer that can be exploited later to steal data or to use the computer to post spam.
Source: Reuters
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