Symantec WARNS of W32.Aphex@mm or W32.Aplore@mm.

There is a new worm that you may hear about today called W32.Aphex@mm or W32.Aplore@mm. It is a mass-mailing worm that emails itself to all email addresses in the Microsoft Outlook address book. It also uses IRC and AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) to spread itself. This reflects the latest trend where virus writers are using a combination of instant messaging and social engineering to spread viruses.

Date: April 10, 2002

Name : W32.Aphex@mm or W32.Aplore@mm.

Threat Assessment: Level 2 (currently not widespread)

Description:
It is a mass-mailing worm that emails itself to all email addresses in the Microsoft Outlook address book. It also uses IRC and AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) to spread itself.

This reflects the latest trend where virus writers are using a combination of instant messaging and social
engineering to spread viruses.Microsoft Outlook functionality.

The email has the following characteristics (The subject and message eachconsist of only a period)

Subject: .

Message: .

Attachment:
Psecure20x-cgi-install.version.6.01.bin.hx.com AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) functionality. The worm waits for you to connect to AIM. It then sends one of thefollowing one-line messages to your AIM contacts:btw, download thisI wanted to show you thisplease check outhey go tosee if you can get this to workthis is cooltell me what you think abouttry thisI almost forgot aboutI like thisWhat aboutHave you seenInterestinglolwowwhoaneatcoolhmmpssthehehahasillyweird

Definitions From Symantec
Available.

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