Bored Computer Virus Offers To Play A Musical Tune
Security experts at Sophos have identified a new computer virus which complains of being bored and offers to play a musical tune, whilst secretly opening a backdoor for hackers.
The Aegi-A virus (W32/Aegi-A) hunts for executable files to infect on hard drives and floppy disks, and opens a backdoor to allow remote hackers access to affected Windows computers.
At certain times of the day, Aegi-A will display a messagebox saying “
“Some infected users may think that they have a joke program installed on their PCs when they see the message about the computer being bored,” said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos. “The good news is that a virus this obvious is never likely to be as significant a threat as some of the fast-spreading internet worms we have seen this year.”
“The virus experts at Sophos were hoping this virus would liven up their day with a merry tune when they were testing it under laboratory conditions,” continued Cluley. “Unfortunately the virus wasn’t telling the truth. It doesn’t play a tune despite its promise, indeed it has no multimedia capabilities at all.”
Although only a small number of instances of the virus have been sighted so far, Sophos recommends companies protect their computers with a consolidated solution to thwart the virus and spam threats as well as secure their desktop and servers with automatically updated anti-virus protection.
Further information about Aegi-A can be found at: