Many old worms and viruses appear to be popping up on the internet but despite the increase of activity virus experts play down the threat.
Variants of old worms newly discovered include Sober, Bropia and MyDoom. The new Sober variant which is currently making its way across Europe. W32.Sober-K-mm spreads itself via email with enticing subject lines such as "Paris Hilton Sex Videos" (as previous reported by SC Magazine here) and "You visit illegal websites". Some pretend to be a security patch against the new varient.
The Bropia worm has also resurfaced and has the capability to propagate itself using Microsoft's Instant Messenger or Windows Messenger. The worm releases a variant of the Rbot worm.
MyDoom is currently also doing the rounds but according to Kaspersky the new variant is simply an old worm repackaged.
"The so-called new version is the same worm only only packed with a different packer - this time it was MEW, whereas in the summer it was UPX," said Eugene Kaspersky on his weblog.
One new worm is trying an old trick. Five years after the Loveletter virus spread around the world, a mass-mailing worm called Assiral is trying to lure unsuspecting users into opening attachments purporting to be love letters from a secret admirer. Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos said the new worm is unlikely to have the same affect as the infamous Love Bug worm.
Once opened the virus displays a message telling the user their computer will crash.
