Friday, July 11, 2008
A new storm virus variant is using the recent Iranian missile launches as a pretext in order to infect machines, according to the US Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US CERT).
Users are targeted via spam email which includes a link to a website purporting to contain coverage of the heightened Middle East security situation.
When the website opens, employees and consumers are asked to download a file entitled iran_occupation.exe.
If they do so, the Storm variant will then infect machines and use address details to spread further within organizations.
Among the subject lines being used are "20000 US soldiers in Iran", "Iran USA conflict developed into war" and "More than 10000 Iranians were murdered".
To minimize the email security risk, US CERT urged administrators to make sure that all virus protection signature files are up to date.
Earlier this week, the organization also warned firms about a newly identified flaw in the Microsoft Word program, which could lead to an escalation of privileges and compromised network security.
