A cunning email worm…

“A new virus is spreading by email in Malaysia, combining threats of terrorist plans and a Trojan horse virus.

Victims receive an email that claims to warn of five planned terrorist attacks, with the times and places leaked by an anonymous Malaysian government source. The email’s subject line is “Urgent message to all citizens of Malaysia”, and the email says it seeks to minimise the number of terrorist victims by spreading the terrorist attacks information, reported the Star, a Malaysian daily.

Inside the email is an embedded link that purports to link to a site with important information regarding the attacks. However, the Malaysian Computer Emergency Response Team (myCERT) said that clicking on the link instead installs three malicious files that appear to be Trojan horse virus files and adds a new key to the computer registery. Then the virus attempts to connect to three internet hosts set by the virus. MyCERT’s website said the virus was similar to the Backdoor.Tofger Trojan horse reported in early December 2003.”