The register reports the first virus using MSN Messenger. This worm, called W32/Hello isn't really harmful and pretty slow spreading.
By using the StartUp group of Windows it tries to send itsself to other Messenger users.
If a user clicks on the file, which is actually a Visual Basic 5 application, the worm creates a shortcut, with no name or icon, in the Windows Start-up folder. It will then attempt to send a copy of itself along with the message "i have a file for u. its real funny", to people on the contact list of an infected user's machine. |
Jack Clark, European product manager at Network Associates, played down the risk of the worm, which he described as low risk because it is neither spreading rapidly nor capable of doing much damage. He said the importance of the Hello worm was as an early warning that users should be careful of instant messaging applications, which could become a vector for the spread of malicious code.
Seems like another good reasen not to install MSN Messenger to me
But if you got the worm, you'll see that's quite easy to erase....
Source: The register
