You creating macros, Baldy?
Computer virus hits big companies
By Mike Tarsala, CBS.MarketWatch.com
Last Update: 5:16 PM ET Mar 6, 2001
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS.MW) - A new computer virus that displays a movie while it destroys data hit at least 25 companies Tuesday, according to security experts.
The so-called "Naked Wife" virus works like many other virus types, in that it corrupts files and it sends itself to contacts in the infected computer's e-mail list. But this one has a caveat: It attacks while it's showing a video clip that looks like it's from a friend.
The virus is hidden inside an attachment called NakedWife.exe. It only works when the attachment is opened and run, experts say.
"You look at it and say, 'hey, this is pretty cool,' and you don't even realize that it's eating files and that stuff is being mailed out," said Vincent Gullotto, senior director of McAfee's antivirus labs, a division of Network Associates (NETA: news, msgs, alerts) .
At least 25 businesses - some of them large -- have been hit with the virus, according to McAfee. The company wouldn't reveal which corporations were affected.
So far, the new virus has caused minimal damage, Gullotto said. Since it was discovered, major antivirus companies released new software via the Internet that destroys it. The virus isn't spreading very rapidly, he added.
According to Gullotto, the Naked Wife virus is the second of its ilk discovered in the past two weeks. Another virus type being watched can attack right after its shows recipients a moving baby picture.
But software companies have a cure for it, as well.
Shares of antivirus software makers rose in a broad Nasdaq rally Tuesday. Network Associates' shares gained 50 cents, or 7 percent to $7.31. Rival Symantec's (SYMC: news, msgs, alerts) shares moved up $1.06, or 2 percent, to $48.69.
Mike Tarsala is a San Francisco-based reporter for CBS.MarketWatch.com. |
