Fizzer Worm Making Some Headway
New worm exploits multiple tricks to infect users' systems
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Antivirus vendors are warning that a new worm is beginning to make headway. Dubbed the Fizzer worm, reports of infections have surfaced in Asia and the United States.
According to AVERT Research Center, a division of antvirus maker McAfee, the worm spreads through Kazaa, E-mail. The worm also checks various instant-messaging systems, such as Internet Relay Chat and AOL AIM sites. When the worm receives a reply from an instant messaging server, it awaits further instructions from its author to potentially launch a distributed denial-of-service attack.
The worm mass-mails itself using addresses found in the Windows Address Book and Microsoft Outlook. The worm also sports a keystroke logger and attempts to disable many antivirus applications.
The worm can infect most systems running Microsoft Windows.
Fizzer can appear in E-mails with various messaging, including the following:
Subject: Fwd: Mariss995
Body: There is only one good, knowledge, and one evil, ignorance.
Attachment: Mariss995.exe
In order to get infected, users must double-click on the attachment.
Most antivirus firms have labeled fizzer a medium risk threat.
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