Virus Warning

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Newest Trojan Virus/worm : Disguised to Do Damage

 

A new Trojan horse program appeared on the Internet Friday, and

security experts are worried that its disguise will help it infect a

large number of computers rather quickly.

 

Known variously as Xombe and Downloader, the program is attached to

an e-mail that purports to come from Microsoft Corp. and supposedly

delivers security updates to the user's computer. Experts haven't

yet analyzed all of the Trojan's capabilities, but once activated,

it downloads another executable file from a remote Web site. This

file also appears to be a Trojan, which downloads and installs a

third program. The third file can vary in name, but immediately

begins requesting pages repeatedly from a Web site with a Russian

domain, possibly as a denial-of-service attack.

 

Xombe arrives in an e-mail from the address

windowsupdate with a subject line of " Windows XP

Service Pack 1 (Express)-Critical Update. " The attachment is

named " winxp_sp1.exe. " According to an analysis of the program done

by Computer Associates International Inc., the body of the message

reads:

 

" Window Update has determined that you are running a beta version

of Windows XP Service Pack 1 (SP1). To help improve the stability of

your computer, Microsoft recommends that you remove the beta version

of Windows XP SP1 and re-install Windows XP SP1. If you cannot

remove the beta version, you should still reinstall Windows XP SP1.

 

Windows XP SP1 provides the latest security, reliability, and

performance updates to the Windows XP family of operating systems.

Windows XP SP1 is designed to ensure Windows XP platform

compatibility with newly released software and hardware, and

includes updates to resolve issues discovered by customers or by

Microsoft's internal testing team.

 

The maximum download size is approximately 3 MB, however, the size

of the download and time required may be less for computers that

have had updates previously installed.

 

To minimize the download time needed for installation, setup will

only download those files which are required to bring your computer

up to date. Windows XP SP1 includes Internet Explorer 6 SP1. Anti-

virus software programs may interfere with the installation of

Windows XP SP1. Please disable anti-virus software while installing

the service pack.

 

Just run the file winxp_sp1.exe in attach and make sure to restart

your PC after installation will be completed. "