Viruses/Worms News

Virut in wild, city systems shut down

Thursday, February 12, 2009

A variant of the Virut virus has been reportedly let loose in the wild, causing some city municipalities to shut down their network to quarantine affected machines until the virus was eradicated.

Though the Virut hit organizations in the past, the new version appears to be stronger and less detectable. The malware infects portable executable files, such as .exe and.scr, which allows it to spread from machine to machine, SCMagazineus.com reports. As it moves, the virus uses polymorphism - muted code - to evade detection.

After infiltrating a machine, Virut opens a backdoor and connects to an internet relay chat (IRC) server, according to the article. This can allow a cybercriminal to download more malware onto the compromised computer.

Officials at Microsoft told the news provider Virut can destroy certain files beyond repair, which means affected systems will have to install a completely clean version of their operating system to get back online.

Earlier this week, Virut forced the court system in Houston to shut down after 475 of the city's 16,000 computers were affected, the Houston Chronicle reports. The virus also caused the city website of Springfield, Missouri to shutdown as a precaution.