TechSpot - PC Technology News and Analysis

There's a lovely variant of the Yaha mass mailing email worm waiting for hung over office workers to foolishly download on the return to work January 2nd. What amazes me is that people actually do download screensavers and other .exes from unsolicited mail. I mean, like, duh! I recall having to completely reinstall a workstation at work because its owner "wanted to see the free game that the e-mail was offering." These people should not be allowed to use a computer.

"Like previous versions of Yaha, the latest variant typically spreads by email with subject lines such as "Enjoy this friendship Screen Saver" and infected attachments with filenames including (Hacker_The_LoveStory.scr, KOF_Sample.exe etc.) A full list is in MessageLabs' advisory and there's more info on the virus in an alert by Finnish AV specialists F-Secure."

More here, here, and here.

I've already had this virus and my address book...

Had to format and reinstall Windows in the end

According to http://www.bitdefender.com/virusi/vi...?virus_id=117, damage is low apparently...yeah it was until you try to remove it which makes it worse and then buggers everything up. A good old format fixes anything.

I'm wondering why a security/group policy/file permission setup wasn't implemented in the first place, which would've totally kept the thing from doing any real damage.

Way to go corporate world!