New computer virus surfaces
Another virulent virus has surfaced to torment computer users, and this time it is associated with the infamous 9/11 incident and it could come from someone you know.
The virus with the subject line 'WTC Survivor'. It is dangerous as people will open it quickly thinking it is a story relating to 9/11 or of a survivor who went under a terrible ordeal in the debris of the Twin Towers.
The timing chosen for this virus is even clever as people are keen to know about the current developments of a possible war in the region, which is fall out of that incident.
Carina Jahani, an Associate Professor at Upsala University of Sweden, in a message to her friends, said: "During the next several weeks Internet users should be very cautious to open or write an email about the incident, regardless of who sends it."
Etisalat said in a statement that there has been no complaints from customers. It said that if customers have any questions, they can call free hotline on 800-6100.
Jahani said one of her friends opened an email sent by a friend, it destroyed her computer hard disk. Normally people delete emails of unidentified persons.
The virus erases the whole 'C' drive, which normally stores all the operative and application programmes, by removing all dynamic link libraries (.dll files) from the computer.
IT experts in Abu Dhabi said in such cases hackers access the users' email addresses, retrieve personal contacts, and spread the virus through them.
Younus Ghazi, an IT expert working for a leading information establishment in Abu Dhabi, said it is very easy to access information. "In places like the U.S., Europe and Far East, directories of thousands of email users are available on a single CD," he said.
He advised computer users to download free Zoom Alarm from download.com, Internet Security from Norton or any other reliable anti-virus scanner. "The users need to update their anti-virus programmes regularly."
Every time an anti-virus is updated, it records the entire map and history of the computer and monitors the changes each time it is used.
Source: www.gulf-news.com
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