Computers here hit by new worm

A worm that uses Microsoft MSN messenger program as a medium has been found in Korea and is spreading fast, anti-virus firms warned yesterday. Named Smess, the worm is a mutant of the Sinmsn worm discovered at the end of July, Ahnlab, the largest anti-virus firm in Korea, said yesterday. When a computer is infected, the worm sends a file named SMB.EXE, about 164,000 bytes in size, to all of the registered buddies of the user. Although the virus does not directly damage the infected computer, it can drive up network traffic dramatically and slow down online activities. To prevent the infection, Ahnlab advised that users of MSN reject any message alerting them that a buddy has sent them a file with that name. “We received more than 100 reports of infection during the morning. The situation is similar to that of last month, when the SoBig worm infected tens of thousands of personal computers,” a manager at Ahnlab said. “We estimate that about 10,000 personal computes may have been infected with the virus because there are many MSN users in Korea.” To download update files, users may go to the Web sites of Ahnlab and another anti-virus firm, Hauri. The Web addresses are www.ahnlab.co.kr or www.hauri.co.kr. by Kim Hyo-jin