The Hindu Business Line : New bug Bagle affects computers

MORE than half a dozen viruses broke out in the past four days, affecting computers and networks across the world and rendering email a risky communication tool to use.

New versions of Bagle and NetSky viruses proliferated through email as unsuspecting users opened mails that looked innocuous. However, the scale of the latest virus attack is not as large and devastating as the recent Mydoom virus outbreak.

Both the viruses belong to the category of `worms', which experts define as self-contained software programmes that can spread themselves across computers, mainly through emails. This can lead to crash of systems and networks.

It is not known how many computers in India have been affected by the latest spate of virus attacks.

Computer users saw the mass mailer Bagle virus multiplying over the past few days. New versions such as C, D, E, F and G cropped up and these offspring of Bagle also contain a ZIP file that contains the malware.

The F and G versions of the Bagle virus, the first version of which appeared in January, have the capability of dodging anti-virus software as they have the infected attachment protected with a password. It targets Windows-based machines.

The latest to arrive on the scene is the NetSky.D worm, which anti-virus software maker, Trend Micro says has high damage and distribution potential.

The worm hides in a Programme Information File (PIF) in an email and once opened, scans the computer's hard drive for files containing email addresses to spread.

Once it affects the computer, this worm also plays a beeping noise to make it more irritating.