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21 June 2006, 14:01

Email worm promises images of naked football players

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It was perhaps only a matter of time before virus authors tried to trick football fans during the 2006 World Cup. At present, an e-mail is being sent out concerning the sporting event; it promises to have photos of nudists playing football attached. According to vendors of antivirus software, the e-mail is also being sent out with a less humorous text message that speaks not only of the photos, but also of the murder of several young people at the hands of rampaging fans.

Users might, however, be surprised to find not photos attached, but executable files that install the Windows worm Soccer.A when launched; some vendors are calling it Sixem.A. The worm then sends itself to other PCs and tries to disable security software. Soccer.A claims to be from the television news station CNN, among other sources. The worm also downloads other programs from the Internet.

Fortunately, the worm does not seem to be very widespread at the moment. Nevertheless, users are advised – as always – to be careful when opening files attached to e-mails; even e-mails from senders that you know can have a worm or virus attached. For additional tips on how to protect yourself from viruses and worms, see the antivirus pages at heise Security.

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