Osama Bin Laden Internet Worm a Dud   - 2,365 Views,

Summary: A new email worm being carried in email purporting to contain pictures of a captured Osama Bin Laden has failed to elicit the likely intended response - releasing the worm and allowing it to spread. According to spokespersons at both F-Secure and McAfee, the ...

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A new email worm being carried in email purporting to contain pictures of a captured Osama Bin Laden has failed to elicit the likely intended response - releasing the worm and allowing it to spread.

According to spokespersons at both F-Secure and McAfee, the worm was unleashed last week, attached to a substantial run of spam.

The spam carries messages indicating that Osama Bin Laden had been captured. “Turn on your TV. Osama Bin Laden has been captured. While CNN has no pictures at this point of time, the military channel (PPV) released some pictures. I managed to capture a couple of these pictures off my TV. I’ve attached a slideshow containing all the pictures I managed to capture”, read one such email.

Attached to the email is a file called “pics” which, when opened, downloads the worm to the user’s PC.

Yet despite that the worm was sent out in millions of pieces of email last week, both companies report that they have seen very little evidence that the worm has been successfully released. According to McAfee Virus Research Manager Craig Schmugar, “That indicates that most people are identifying the suspicious spam or blocking it”..before it ever gets a chance to do its dirty work.

Osama Bin Laden Internet Worm a Dud

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Previous Article « Yahoo and Cisco Join Forces and Products to Develop DKIM (Domain Keys + Identified Internet Mail)
Read Next Article » SuperGeek Computer Pocket Tool Deal, Just in Time for Father’s Day! - Leatherman Micra for only $18.99

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»  Newest AIM Opanki Worm says “LOL Look at Him”

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For additional similar stories check out our archives on Spam, Windows, Worms

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 This article first appeared on 6/7/2005
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