Filed at 5:00 p.m. ET
NEW YORK (AP) -- A computer virus pretending to be an
electronic photo of teen-age tennis star Anna Kournikova
overwhelmed e-mail servers throughout Europe and North America
on Monday.
The virus slowed down e-mail systems and forced some
companies to shut down their e-mail altogether while they
cleaned out the rogue program. Security experts said the virus
does not permanently damage computers.
Within a few hours, the virus had managed to spread almost as
rapidly as last May's ``I Love You'' virus, which caused tens of
millions of dollars in damages worldwide. Anti-virus researchers
expected more computer infections during Tuesday's business day
in Asia.
``Everybody and their brother and sister in law (are)
infected with this thing,'' said David Perry, director of public
education at Trend Micro Inc. ``Last year, everybody wanted to
be loved. Apparently many people want to see a JPEG (picture) of
Anna Kournikova.''
Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos
Anti-Virus Inc., said the virus writer skillfully combined ``the
temptation of the teen-age tennis star with the average fantasy
of the guy who sits in front of the computer terminal.''
The virus is known as a worm because it can automatically
send copies of itself to everyone on a recipient's address book.
That could be thousands of copies per person for a larger
corporation.
It only spreads through Microsoft Outlook e-mail software on
Windows computers, although Macintosh users and those using
other e-mail programs can still spread the virus manually.
Microsoft spokesman Adam Sohn said the company had released a
security update last June, shortly after the ``I Love You''
virus spread using similar techniques. That update generates a
warning anytime a computer program attempts to access Outlook's
address book.
The virus appears to have originated in Europe.
Mikko Hypponen, manager of anti-virus research for F-Secure
Corp., said the virus, if left alone, will try to contact a
Dutch Web site on Jan. 26, 2002.
The virus comes as an attachment
named ``AnnaKournikova.jpg.vbs'' and carries the message ``Hi:
Check This!'' At least three subject lines have been identified:
``Here you have,'' ``Here you go'' and ``Here you are'' -- all
followed by a smiley face.
Many anti-virus companies have developed software updates to
filter the new virus, and many network administrators responded
by configuring e-mail servers to automatically reject the
message.
A warning to Michican State University users was typical:
``If you receive such a message, please DO NOT OPEN the
attachment. Discard the message immediately.''
Vincent Weafer, director of the Symantec Anti-Virus Research
Center, partly attributed the virus's spread to timing.
``Close to Valentine's Day, anything novel or different like
this will get people's attention more than normal,'' he said.
``They are expecting messages from friends, maybe pictures of
each other or cards. People lower their guards.''
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On the Net:
F-Secure: http://www.fsecure.com/virus-info
Microsoft: http://www.microsoft.com
