Panda Software weekly virus report

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

Posted in GD as a public service. The poster is not an employee of, or in any way associated with Panda Software.
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Weekly virus report

Virus Alerts, by Panda Software (http://www.pandasoftware.com)

Madrid, December 12, 2003 - This week's virus report will focus on two malicious code: Scold.A and Alphx.B. It will also look at Downloader.L, which heads this week's Top Ten ranking of the viruses most frequently detected by Panda ActiveScan, Panda Software's free online antivirus.

Scold.A is a worm that spreads by sending itself out to all the contacts it finds in the Outlook address book on the affected computer. It propagates by creating copies of itself without infecting other files. Its main aim is to collapse computers and networks, preventing users from working with them. Scold.A is easy to recognize, as when it is run, it displays an image of a seal pup on screen.

The second malicious code in this report is Alphx.B, a worm that spreads through the AOL instant messaging program AIM. It does this by checking if the program is installed on the computer, then it sends a message to all the contacts it finds, inviting them to visit a certain web page that contains the malicious code. When the recipients of these messages visit the web page, they will be infected. Alphx.B goes memory resident in the computers it infects.

We are going to finish today's report with Downloader.L, a Trojan that connects to the Internet, without the user's permission, in order to download files to the affected computer. It is compressed with UPX and is installed on the computer by other applications. Downloader.L is difficult to recognize, as it does not show any messages or warnings that indicate it has reached the computer.

For further information about these and other malicious code, visit Panda Software's Virus Encyclopedia at: http://www.pandasoftware.com/virus_info/encyclopedia

Additional information

- Download: This is the process of obtaining files from the Internet (from Web pages or FTP sites set up specifically for that purpose).

- UPX (Ultimate Packer for eXecutables): This is a file compression tool which also allows programs compressed with this tool to be run without having to be decompressed.

More definitions of virus and antivirus terminology at: http://www.pandasoftware.com/virus_info/glossary/default.aspx

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