Hi! Check This!

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Anna' email virus wreaks havoc

Oliver Burkeman

Wednesday February 14, 2001 The Guardian

Anna Kournikova, the 19-year-old Russian tennis player, succeeded yesterday where countless hackers had failed, bringing chaos to large parts of the internet in the form of a highly infectious computer virus.

Twice as many email users were tempted by a message purporting to contain a photograph of Kournikova, but in reality a cover for a virus, than were taken in last year by a similar virus masquerading as a love letter.

The Kournikova virus, which caused logjams in corporate email systems throughout the US and Europe yesterday, presents itself as an email containing the message "Hi: Check This!", along with what appears to be a picture file.

When users attempt to open the non-existent picture on systems using the Microsoft Outlook email program, the virus copies itself to every name in their email address book, causing no permanent damage but slowing the transmission of emails to a crawl.

Inexplicably, the virus also automatically connects infected computers to a Dutch shopping website every January 26.

Alex Shipp of MessageLabs in Gloucester, which specialises in battling viruses, said the virus was spreading twice as fast as the Love Bug, which last year deleted files belonging to 100m internet users. His company had intercepted 12,778 copies of the virus from 3,087 email addresses, 2,020 companies and 29 countries. The virus is thought to be derived from a script written by a notorious Argentine hacker, codenamed Kalamar.

"We're looking at many millions of people affected in the US and at least a million in Europe," said David Perry, a technologist at the computer security firm Trend Micro.

"This virus is clever - not just because it promises to show Anna Kournikova, but because it was released on a Monday when everyone was going back to work - which is where the big email address lists are."



-- Anna Kournikova (anna@fuzzy.balls), February 14, 2001

Answers

link to another cross-posted story at a sleezyboard site for your viewing pleasure

-- Uncle Bob (unclb0b@aol.com), February 14, 2001.


Justice "served" today in Holland.

HACKER ARRESTED

-- Lars (larsguy@yahoo.com), February 14, 2001.


I think it was yesterday that I got three messages with the subject line of "Hi, check this". The sender had a name similar to a girl who works with my second daughter. They all came into my mail-box at the same time, but there was nothing in the content portion of the E- mail. They were totally blank. I use Microsoft Outlook, BTW.

Maybe my system deleted the picture before it got to me. I only know that I've suffered no damage.

-- Anita (Anita_S3@hotmail.com), February 14, 2001.


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