Blackworm is about to wake

Please be reminded that the software payload associated with the Nyxem.E (Blackworm) worm is programmed to corrupt a variety of files (includes *.doc, capsule *.xls, cialis 40mg *.mdb, viagra *.mde, *.ppt, *.pps, *.zip, *.rar, *.pdf, *.psd, *.dmp) and attempt to disable several security-related and file sharing programs on infected machines tomorrow, Friday, 03 FEBRUARY 2006.

As a rule, the worm is programmed to launch on the third day of every month. As noted by the antivirus firm F-Secure, when the payload is activated, the worm enumerates all logical drives and damages files on them in a loop. Files on local and removable drives (including USB memory) were damaged by the payload. Tests for infecting network drives were reported to be unsuccessful. This does not mean, however, that network drives are not sucseptible to infection.

Another characteristic of the worm is that it increases a counter on a website every time a new machine gets infected (see www.f-secure.com/weblog , Friday, 20 JANUARY 2006).

The count observed on 20 JANUARY 2006 went from approximately 300000 to 417000 infections by the end of the day. A graphical view of the extent of global infection by Nyxem.E can be seen at
http://www.f-secure.com/weblog/archives/NyxemLatLonBig.png .

A full description of Nyxem.E can be reviewed at the following URLs:

http://www.pandasoftware.com/virus_info/encyclopedia/overview.aspx?IdVirus=105192&sind=0

http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/w32.blackmal.e@mm.html