Worm Warfare
Don't blame Anna.
The new computer virus which bears the name of Anna Kournikova cleverly uses the fantasies of her fans to trick e-mail recipients into opening what they think will be a photo of the 19-year-old tennis star.
Instead of seeing her picture, hapless recipients of the virus instead unleash it on everyone in their computer's address book.
"This virus is the latest to exploit psychology to aid its spread among innocent users," says Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos Anti-Virus. "Pictures of Anna Kournikova are among the most popular on the Internet. Our message to computer users is simple: don't let unsolicited e-mail attachments lead you into temptation."
The virus struck computers in the U.S. and Europe Monday, but not until the close of business in Asia, which gave companies there a whole day to prepare and minimize the impact.
"It was much worse in the U.S. because by the time Asia came to work, major companies had cleaned up the systems," says John De Riso, Taiwan spokesman for California-based Trend Micro.
The Kournikova virus uses a so-called worm to spread, just like last year's "Love Bug" or "Love Letter" virus, which infected some 15 million computers and sent servers crashing around the world as unsuspecting users opened emails tagged "I Love You."
"It's an old virus concept but you put a pretty face and a nice pair of legs on it and people open it," says Steve Gottwals, director of product marketing for F-Secure Corp.
The Kournikova virus - also known as "SST" and "On The Fly" - was first discovered in August and has been found in more than 50 large U.S. corporations, according to the software company Network Associates.
It spreads primarily through Microsoft Outlook e-mail software on Windows computers, but it is possible for it to spread in other ways and to Macintosh computers.
David Perry, global director of education for Trend Micro said users of his company's antivirus software have reported 50 to 100 Kournikova hits per hour.
The subject line on the Kournikova virus email reads: "Here you have, ;o)." The text field reads "Hi: Check this!"
"It's not dangerous in a sense that it's data destructive," explains Vincent Weafer, of the Symantec Antivirus Research Center. The Kournikova virus and others like it are damaging because they have the potential to clog email systems and crash servers.
As companies and computer users of all sorts work to flush the virus out of their hard drives, others are focusing on the detective work of who is responsible.
Experts said the virus seemed to have been built from a programming tool kit created by a hacker known as "Kalimar."
If the virus is not completely flushed from a computer, it will automatically connect to the Website of a Dutch company called Dynabyte on January 26 each year, they said.
Virus watchers at Trend Micro believe that Kournikova was written by a acker in Holland who used the handle "On The Fly."
Others disagree about the geographic origins of the virus, saying that the link to the Dutch company was likely a way to throw law enforcement off the hacker's scent.
As for the victims, Asia and Africa are the least infected regions, according to McAfee's World Virus Map, a Web site that tracks infected computers.
The site says California is among the most infected regions.
Australia is reported to have taken a heavy hit, with an estimated 100,000 computers affected.
The Love Bug virus, released May 4 in the Philippines, overwhelmed e-mail systems worldwide and caused tens of millions of dollars in damage.
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