W32/Sixem-A Email Worm Exploits Interest in the Soccer World Cup
IT News Online Staff
2006-06-20
Experts at SophosLabs have warned users about W32/Sixem-A, a new email worm that exploits interest in the World Cup to attack computers. The worm spreads using a variety of disguises, including subject lines such as "Naked World Cup game set", "Soccer fans killed five teens" and "Crazy soccer fans".
One of the messages sent by the worm reads as follows:
Nudists are organising their own tribute to the world cup, by staging their own nude soccer game, though it is not clear how the teams will tell each other apart. Good photos ;)
Other messages can include:
Soccer fans killed five teens, watch what they make on photos. Please report on this all who know.
The messages claim to come from the CNN news organization.
If the attached file is run, it attempts to disable security software on the infected computer and then spread itself to other email addresses.
"This worm exploits the public's interest in the World Cup to infect computer users. While some recipients might find nude football an attractive prospect, this is one worm you don't want to catch sight of, as you'll be playing straight into the hands of hackers," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos. "It is very likely that more Internet criminals will take advantage of users' football fever as the tournament heats up - people need to wise up to security threats, or risk scoring an own goal."
Sophos has recommended that companies protect their email gateways with a consolidated solution to defend against viruses, spyware and spam, as well as apply an email policy that filters unsolicited executable code at the gateway. Businesses should also secure their desktop and servers with automatically updated protection.
Sophos said that this is not the first time that hackers have taken advantage of the World Cup competition. A year ago, the Sober-N worm offered tickets to the tournament in an attempt to entrap unprotected users. In 2002, the VBS/Chick-F virus tried to exploit workers desperate to find out the latest scores from the World Cup in S Korea/Japan.
In 1998, in the run-up to the World cup competition in France, another football-inspired virus asked infected victims to gamble on who the winner might be and if the user did not choose the right team triggered a warhead, which was capable of wiping all the data off the hard drive.
"Millions of people worldwide are following the World Cup and will be using the Internet and email to keep up to date with all the action. In the past we have seen viruses exploiting the popularity of celebrities like Anna Kournikova and Britney Spears; Ronaldo, David Beckham or Wayne Rooney could be next," said Cluley. "It is very likely that more Internet criminals will take advantage of users' football fever as the tournament heats up."
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