News: Antispammers again targeted by worm:
"Antispam organizations are the target of a new Internet worm outbreak that tries to knock them offline with a crippling data barrage, computer security experts said Tuesday.

Virus experts believe the worm, W32/Mimail-L, is the work of a vengeful spam e-mail peddler bent on paralyzing organizations that try to deal with spam, the torrents of get-rich-quick schemes and body-enhancement deals that clog in-boxes daily.

'It's the third Mimail variation to come after us, except this one is trying to do more,' said Steve Linford, founder of The Spamhaus Project, a British-based group that singles out spammers. Spamhaus was hit by Mimail late Monday. "

According to anti-virus and spam-filtering company Sophos Plc, the Mimail-L program comes as an attachment to an e-mail purporting to be from a woman named Wendy who details an erotic encounter and then offers naked photographs.

Clicking on the attachment activates the virus. Once triggered, the worm forwards itself to other e-mail users.


The worm can also turn the affected PC into a "zombie," which can then be remotely commanded to bombard one of a select group of targets, such as Spamhaus, with a disabling blizzard of data--a so-called denial-of-service attack.


In a new twist, a follow-up e-mail is sent to the infected user stating that an order for a CD containing images of child pornography will be delivered to their postal address.


To stop the order, the e-mail advises, they should respond to what appears to be an e-mail address for billing complaints, but which is actually an e-mail for one of the eight targets.…

http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105_2-5112997.html