New Virus Could Threaten Global Computer Systems

Published May 18th, 2001 - 02:00 GMT
Al Bawaba
Al Bawaba

An alert is out on a high-risk virus that is expected to attack computer systems worldwide, according to a report by Gulf News.  

The alert said that the fast-spreading virus is known as "VBS_VBSGW.Z" with aliases of "Mawanella" and "VBSGW.Z". It propagates by sending copies of itself as attachment via email to all entries in an infected system's contact list. 

 

After it sends e-mails, or if the infected system does not have an application installed, the worm displays this message: 

"Subject Line: Mawanell 

Attachment: Mawanella.vbs 

Message Text: Mawanella is one of the Sri Lanka's Muslim Village. This brutal incident happened here 2 Muslim Mosques & 100 Shops are burnt. I hat(e) this incident. What about you? I can destroy your computer. I didn't do that because I am a peace-loving citizen" 

The message is accompanied by the picture of a burning house.  

Attachment files from unknown sources should be deleted immediately," said Harish Kunnath, Paramount Computer Systems managing director.  

The virus is a visual basic script (VBS) worm which copies itself to a "Mawanella.vbs" file in the Windows 9X/ME directory or to WINNT/Windows 2000 system32 directory – Albawaba.com 

© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)

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