Shakira Articles - Shakira Worm on the Loose

By James Middleton of vnunet.com

Security watchers have been receiving concerned inquiries after a worm using Latin diva Shakira as bait appeared in the wild.

The worm lures users into executing a Visual Basic Script (VBS) by pretending to be a picture of the sexy singer.

There is nothing unique about the Shakira worm, according to the experts. It arrives as an email attachment with a double extension - ShakiraPics.jpg.vbs - and spreads by collecting all the email addresses found in the Outlook address book.

It can also spread over the IRC network, which is fast becoming a common method of virus infections.

The VBS file copies itself into the Recycle Bin and throws up a pop up box every time the computer restarts. The message reads: "You have been infected by the ShakiraPics worm."

The worm should not really pose a problem because it uses basic methodology to infect users, who should be on their guard against double extensions and strange attachments.

But these tried and tested methods evidently still work as the worm has already been spotted in the wild a number of times.

"Unfortunately, some users cannot help but throw safe computing practices out of the door when what appears to be appealing and sexy pictures arrive in their inbox. Same old story," said Steven Sundermeier of antivirus firm Central Command.

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