BubbleBoy is the first instance of malicious code which can infect a user's PC without needing an executable attachment. Now that hackers know it's possible to spread a virus without the use of attachment, they'll all start doing it.
The virus, labelled injustice.txt.vbs, is the latest online chapter in the battle between Israelis and Palestinians. The virus, contained in an email carrying the subject line "Re: Injustice", causes little damage, but could potentially bring down...
Both worms spread as an .exe attachment, and arrive in in-boxes with many different email subject lines. The body text of the email is usually blank and the file name of the attachment is most likely to be PROGRAM.EXE.
It works through the now traditional mass-mailing method, taking email addresses from the victim's Outlook address book, so while it has no damaging payload, it can cause havoc by jamming up mail servers with thousands of messages.
If the user runs the attachment the message forwards itself to every name in the users' Microsoft Outlook address book. The worm arrives as an email with the subject line "Shakira Pics" and an attachment entitled "ShakiraPics.jpg.vbs".
The back door Trojan has mass-mailing functionality and will send itself, once activated, to addresses contained in an infected machine's Outlook address book and Windows address book. It is received as an executable attachment and requires users...