Symantec Warns Computer Users about Virus Targets Multimedia Files

Symantec, an online security company, released a warning in the first week of February 2009 about a computer virus called Trojan.Brisv.A circulating on the Internet. This virus mainly targets multimedia files such as WMV video files and MP3 music files.

After searching multimedia files mentioned above, Trojan.Brisv.A infects them with a special code, said Symantec. The security company further states that when a user tries to run one of these infected files on Windows Media Player, special code hidden inside it opens a URL that contains an additional malware.

Describing more malicious features of the virus, security experts said that it was a Trojan horse that provides backdoor entry to criminals into the system. Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows 95, Windows Server 2003, Windows XP, Windows NT, Windows Me and Windows Vista are the most vulnerable to the virus.

Moreover, Symantec has estimated that from 200,000 to 1.6 Million computers across the world have fallen victim to the virus till now. While North America is expected to have the largest number of infected computer from this virus, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia recorded higher number of infections, surpassing China, Vietnam and Russia.

According to Symantec reports, the number of multimedia media files infected by this virus has exponentially surged during February 2009 since its first detection in July 2008.

A Symantec spokesman said that cyber criminals had shifted their focus to consumers' day-to-day online activities. Thus, computer users need to be extra careful while downloading multimedia files just as they exercise caution during file download from any website, said the spokesman.

The warning has come almost a week later when several security companies alerted online users about Valentine's Day based spam e-mail messages. As soon as a curious online user clicks on links embedded in these messages, he is taken to a malicious website that secretly downloads malware on the system. This malware enables attacker to take control of the infected system to further carry out illegitimate activities like sending spam and viruses.

According to security experts, users with updated antivirus applications on their system are safe from these kinds of threats.

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» SPAMfighter News - 2/23/2009