Microsoft to release patch to fight virus

CALIFORNIA, USA: Microsoft Corp said it will release a security update on Tuesday to protect personal computers from getting attacked by Duqu, a mysterious virus that researchers suspect was built by the same group behind Stuxnet.

Stuxnet is the piece of malicious software, or malware, that security experts say was used last year to launch a successful attack on a uranium enrichment facility in Iran, setting back that nation's effort to build a nuclear bomb.

After researchers in Hungary discovered Duqu in October, many security experts concluded that it was created by the group behind Stuxnet because of similarities in the code between the two viruses.

While Stuxnet was aimed at crippling systems that control industrial processes such as uranium enrichment, Duqu was designed to steal data from computers.