Date: Tue, 31 Dec 2002 09:45:03 -0500
From: "Michael Walsh" <MJW at mail.press.jhu.edu>
To: <wsfalist at keithlynch.net>
Subject: [WSFA] New virus for PC users to watch out for--W32.Yaha.K at mm
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>

This from the JHU Press IS Department:

Yet another one to beware of: W32.Yaha.K at mm, which has just reached level =
3 on Symantec's threat rating.  Unfortunately it is hard to recognize, =
because the sender's email address, the subject line, the message, and the =
name of the attachment all vary.  We have updated the virus definitions of =
our Antivirus for Gateways to (hopefully) screen it out, but if you check =
your mail through any other method, it could get through.

The creator of the virus put some thought into analyzing human interests. =
The themes of the subject lines tend to be peace, love, friendship, =
hacking, screensavers, sex, sports, free software or computer training, =
virus protection, and a game called KOF.  Some that do not follow this =
pattern are "Are you the BEST," "Wanna be like a stone?" "Check it out," =
"Visit us," "Whats up," "Wanna Brawl," "Wanna Rumble," "Need money ??,"  =
"Wanna be a HE-MAN," "Freak Out," "Things to Note"  "Project," "Wowwwww =
check it," "Shake it baby," "Let's Dance and forget pains," "Check this =
shit," "Hello," "Hi."

The virus attempts to send itself to all contacts in the Windows Address =
Book, MSN Messenger, .NET Messenger, Yahoo Pager, and email addresses in =
cached HTML files on the hard drive.  It also tries to disable antivirus =
and personal firewall programs.

So please be careful, at home and at work.  Don't click on attachments =
unless you are expecting them and you know they are legitimate.  Avoid =
clicking on executable attachments, those that have the extensions like =
.exe, .scr, .pif, .com., .bat.  (Depending on your Windows settings and =
the length of the filename, you might not always see the file extension.)  =
On your home computers, keep your virus definitions updated.  If you don't =
have an antivirus program on your home PC, you really should get one!