FBI Virus Making The Rounds.

The Federal Bureau of Information is warning that a newvirus is being sent to unsuspecting Internet users in anemail which claims to be from the FBI. The vius is known asthe Sober K Worm.

The email, with an fbi.gov return address, tells therecipient that they have been observed accessing illegalweb sites. The recipient is then asked to open an attachedquestionaire regarding their Internet Usage. When therecipient clicks on the attachment, a virus is loaded ontheir system.

An example of the email bearing the Sober K Worm follows:Subject : You_visit_illegal_websites
Dear Sir/Madam, we have logged your IP-address on more than30 illegal Websites.

Important:
Please answer our questions!
The list of questions are attached.
Yours faithfully,
Frederick Thompson*** Federal Bureau of Investigation -FBI- *** 935
Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Room 3220 *** Washington, DC 20535***
phone: (202) 324-3000

It is not yet known what effect the virus has on a user'scomputer.

"Recipients of this or similar solicitations should knowthat the FBI does not engage in the practice of sendingunsolicited e-mails to the public in this manner," the FBIsaid in a statement.

Last month, the Federal Bureau of Investigations was forcedto shut down their email system due to a securityvulnerability. It's not yet known if the sober k virus isrelated to the earlier problems.

The virus sender is counting on the panic induced by theemail to persuade the recipient to open the attachment. Theironic thing is that this virus plays upon people'swillingness to obey an authority figure, while the virus,itself, is an "in your face" affront to the most powerfullaw enforcement agency in the world.

Some variants of this virus purport to be sent from theCentral Intelligence Agency of the United States Government

.Email users may guard themselves against this virus by:
1. NEVER open an attachment in an unsolicited email, evenif it appears to have been sent by an authotative source.
2. Be extremely cautious about opening attachments frompeople you know. Many viruses use email spoofing to make itappear that the email was sent by a trusted source. If indoubt, call the sender via telephone, and ask if they sentyou an attachment.
3. Disable auto-viewing/opening of attachments in youremail client software if possible.
4. Keep your anti-virus definition software updated.


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