Fake FBI email spreads worm

Submitted by Rollie Hawk on Sun, 2005-11-27 11:54.

If you get an email from the FBI claiming you are visiting "illegal websites," don't open the file attached. Rather than going with tried and true promise of a nude celebrity, the latest computer nasty is going the more official-looking route.

Called "Sober X," this worm spreads by scanning the victim's address book and using a built-in SMTP engine to send itself to everyone in it. It arrives as a short email claiming to be from the FBI (some variants claim the CIA) and reporting that the victim has been to more than 30 illegal websites and needs to fill out an attached questionaire. Once opened, the attachment lowers Windows security settings, blocks the operations of Symantec software, and finally sends itself out to start the process all over again.

Already being called the worst worm of 2005, Sober X is said to infect one in every seventeen emails at this point.


( categories: News | Security/Privacy )
Rollie Hawk is a consultant, web publisher, online personality, magazine writer, web developer, network administrator, teacher, husband and father residing in southern Illinois. He graduated in 2002 from Southern Illinois University, earning his BS majoring in math with a minor in chemistry.

Rollie is a certified math teacher with endorsements in chemistry, physics, and physical science and has taught students of all age groups and abilities, ranging from grade school to the university level. In addition to math and science, he has also taught GED, job skills, and alternative high school classes (his personal favorite).

After the birth of his daughter in 2004, Rollie decided to spend more time at home. This meant leaving his teaching position and devoting his working hours exclusively to consulting, web development, and general IT work.