, world's most popular e-mail, hit by worm

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, world's most popular e-mail, hit by wormTue Jun 13, 2006 1:50am ETLAS VEGAS (Reuters) - Inc., the world's largest provider of e-mailservices, said on Monday that a software virus aimed at Mail users hadinfected "a very small fraction" of its base of more than 200 million accounts.The e-mail virus, or worm, has been dubbed Yamanner and landed in mailboxes bearing the headline "New Graphic Site." Once opened, the messageinfects the computer and spreads to other users listed in users' e-mailaddress books, security experts said.The e-mail containing the virus need only be opened -- in contrast to most wormsthat are hidden in attachments and require users to take an additional step --to release the virus, according to computer security site Symantec Corp..The Sunnyvale, California-based company advised users to update virus andfirewall software on their computers and to block any e-mail sent from theaddress."We have taken steps to resolve the issue and protect our users from furtherattacks of this worm," spokeswoman Kelley Podboy said in a statement."When we learn of e-mail abuse, such as a worm or other online threat, we takeappropriate action," she said. "(A) solution has been automatically distributedto all Mail customers, and requires no additional action on the part ofthe user."Yamanner, first detected by and major computer anti-virus software makersearlier on Monday, was ranked as having a low threat level by Trend Micro Inc.and McAfee Inc.But Symantec considers the worm an "elevated threat," one step up from thelowest ranking in terms of relative danger.Symantec's Security Response site suggested Mail users might protectthemselves by upgrading to the latest test version of the recently upgraded Mail software.The worm cannot run on the newest version of Mail Beta," Symantec's sitesaid.A spokesman was not immediately available to comment on whether thecompany advised users to do this.The worm exploits a vulnerability in Javascript technology used to make the mailprogram easier to use by triggering embedded HTML scripts to run in the computeruser's browser.The e-mail addresses are also sent to a remote online computer server, which maybe used to run spam campaigns, experts said. The technical name of the worm goes by variants of "JS.Yamanner." © Reuters 2006. .