W32/VBSun-A virus

Article from Sydney Moring Herald
Computer virus targets tsunami donations
January 19, 2005 - 7:12AM


Malicious internet hackers have sunk to a new low with a virus that was spreading across the internet today.
The W32/VBSun-A is a mass-mailing worm masquerading as a plea for donations to help with the tsunami disaster. But instead of bringing help to millions of disaster victims, the e-mail takes over the target computers to launch a denial-of-service attack against a German hacker website.

Computer security experts said the attack could stem from a rivalry between hacker groups.

The virus arrives as an e-mail with the subject line "Tsunami Donation, Please Help!" and comes with an attachment, tsunami.exe, which launches the malicious software.

Security experts reiterated that computer users should never open attachments unless they are sure of their content. Suspicious e-mails should be deleted, without opening the attachments.