Worm Copying on Removable Devices, Show Up

A worm that replicates onto detachable devices like USB flash drives has arrived. It brings along a message that describes the worm as harmless, as reported by The Inquirer on June 20, 2007.

The worm dubbed LiarVB-A looks for removable devices like floppy disks and USB memory sticks where it creates a hidden file 'autorun.inf'. This file ensures that the worm runs on the Windows PC when the removable drive is again connected to it. After infecting a machine, the worm installs onto the drive an HTML file that talks about AIDS and HIV.

However, security firm Sophos said the commendable intentions that the worm creator claims turn useless, as the process is still unlawful and could even usher in a tendency for "graffiti" malware applications.

Most kinds of malware that hackers develop are created to produce income for them, but the LiarVB-A worm behaves differently by informing about AIDS rather than ask for personal details, said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos, and SC Magazine published it in news on June 21, 2007.

Despite the impression that the hackers behind this worm aren't greedy for money but are trying to spread some important information, they are nevertheless violating the law. It could result in more graffiti form of malware developed for political, religious and similar groups of people seeking a platform to canvass their opinion, Cluley said, as reported by Webuser.co on June 20, 2007.

It would be incorrect to assume that the worm is devoid of causing damage to computers. In fact, it alters the PC settings and overwrites file contents. A virus can never behave usefully.

A computer owner is the only person to decide what code he/she wants on his/her computer. The virus writer is has no right to think it all right to inject his code on someone else's machine, Cluley said, and SC Magazine published it on June 21, 2007.

Sophos said the LiarVB-A in fact has sinister implications as in 1989 when Dr. Joseph Popp disbursed 20,000 floppy disks saying they contained knowledge about the AIDS virus while the floppies really had Trojan horses.

Related article: Worm Spreads With Random Subject Lines

» SPAMfighter News - 7/4/2007