The notorious Storm worm has reared its head for a Valentine's day attack, causing havoc for businesses, according to sources.
In America the FBI even issued a warning as IT managers faced disruption from emails being sent to staff around the world.
The email sent a weblink which directs the user to download a Valentine's card from an unknown admirer.
Rather than getting the romantic gesture users expect, they are instead subject to the release of a Stormbug.
The attack, according to security experts McAfee, will attempt to steal personal information, bring down security defences and send out millions of junk emails from the PC.
"There are about ten million PCs worldwide infected with the Storm worm," said Greg Day, a security expert for McAfee.
Diego d'Ambra from SoftScan, told ComputerWorld: "With all the hype that surrounds Valentine's Day, it was only to be expected that they (the people behind Storm) would use a similar tactic and exploit people's eagerness to receive Valentine's cards."
Similar attacks were seen at Christmas and New Year and a Valentine's attack had previously been warned of.
|