Kama Sutra Worm, ETA Tomorrow
Posted on February 2, 2006
Tomorrow may be too late! In fact, tomorrow is too late. According to SpywareInfo:
The Kama Sutra worm, which has numerous aliases, is set to deliver its first destructive payload TOMORROW (February 3). This worm is believed to have infected anywhere from 200,000 to 700,000 computers worldwide.
What will it do, you ask? It will destroy all MS file formats, 30 minutes after the computer boots up, every 3rd day of the month. PC Doctor details the file extensions at risk:
This worm (which goes by a number of names such as “W32/Nyxem-D†by Sophos and F-Secure, “Tearac.A†by Panda Software, and “W32.Blackmal.E@mm†by Symantec) does three things:
- Spread
- Disable security software
- Overwrite files
The overwriting part is the nastiest aspect of the payload - on the third day of each month it will overwrite the contents of Microsoft Word, PowerPoint and Excel files, Adobe PDF documents and ZIP and RAR compressed files (the complete list of files affected are DOC, XLS, MDB, MDE, PPT, PPS, ZIP, RAR, PDF, PSD and DMP extension).
Symantec offers a scan tool specifically for Kama Sutra that you should run now, along with your regular anti-virus software. Here is their download page. Don’t forget to update your virus software, as well.
If you are not running any virus software at home, shame on you! It’s not too late to redeem yourself, though. Avast is a great, free anti-virus product. AVG is good too, but not as highly rated as Avast. If you’re not running anti-virus on your network at church, a bigger shame on you! In that case, you can not use one of these free tools and you have a lot to get done to secure your servers and PC’s on your network by tomorrow.
Another recommendation is to burn your files to CD or DVD and get them off of your computer.
PC Doctor also indicates:
Compromised machines will also be used as launch platforms to help the virus seek out fresh victims.
Finally, these links:
The best posts here on this worm are listed below:
- Kama Sutra action plan and removal (Kama Sutra/Nyxem.e/MyWife.d/Grew.a/Blackmal.e)
- Removal instructions for Kama Sutra/Nyxem.e/MyWife.d/Grew.a/Blackmal.e
- Scan your system for Kama Sutra worm
- Kama Sutra email worm advice
Hey, I know a good thing when I see it, peruse through PC Doctor’s site for this info and much more, but more importantly, secure your computer!
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