Symantec Offers Protection From Love Letter Worm

MAY 5TH - 12.00PM *** MEDIA ALERT *** MEDIA ALERT

SYMANTEC OFFERS PROTECTION TO NEW ZEALAND COMPUTER USERS FROM FAST SPREADING INTERNATIONAL 'LOVE LETTER' WORM

WHAT: Researchers at the Symantec AntiVirus Research Center have discovered VBS.LoveLetter.A, an extremely fast-spreading computer worm that uses mIRC and Microsoft Outlook to e-mail itself as an attachment.

CHARACTERISTICS OF INFECTION: VBS.LoveLetter.A is an Internet worm that uses Microsoft Outlook to spread itself as an attachment with the subject line "ILOVEYOU" along with an attachment called "LOVE-LETTER-FOR-YOU.TXT.vbs."

PAYLOAD: Preliminary finding indicate that the worm sends itself to all addresses in the computer user's Outlook address book causing mail servers to clog.

The worm will infect files with the following extensions: vbs, vbe, je, jse, css, wsh, sct, hta, jpg, jpeg, mp3, and mp2.

Additionally, it will delete the following files:
§ MSKernel32.vbs in the Windows system directory
§ Win32DLL.vbs in the Windows directory
§ LOVE-LETTER-FOR-YOU.TXT.vbs in the Windows System directory
§ WinFAT32.EXE in the Internet download directory
§ WIN-BUGSFIX.EXE in the Internet download directory
§ Script.ini in the mIRC directory

RECOMMENDATION
/PROTECTION: Symantec Antivirus Research Center (SARC) researchers have analysed this worm and have a complete virus definition set available at:
· www.symantecstore.com/Pages/Support/CSsupport.html
· www.digitalriver.com/symantec

SYMANTEC ANTIVIRUS RESEARCH CENTER: SARC is one of the industry's largest dedicated team of virus experts. With offices located in the United States, Japan, Australia, and the Netherlands, the sun never sets on SARC. The center's mission is to provide swift, global responses to computer virus threats, proactively research and develop technologies that eliminate such threats, and educate the public on safe computing practices. As new computer viruses appear, SARC develops identification and detection for these viruses, and provides either a repair or delete operation, thus keeping users protected against the latest virus threats.
SYMANTEC: Symantec, a world leader in Internet security technology, provides a broad range of content and network security solutions to individuals and companies. The company is a leading provider of virus protection, risk management, Internet content and e-mail filtering, and mobile code detection technologies to enterprise customers. Headquartered in Cupertino, Calif., Symantec has offices worldwide including Auckland.
CONTACT: David Banes
Symantec AntiVirus Research Centre (New Zealand & Australia)
Ph: 0061 29850 1080
Email: dbanes@symantec.com Nimita Morarji
Botica Conroy & Associates
Ph: 09 303 3862
Email: nimitam@bca.co.nz

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