Harry Potter Worm Infects Through USB Drives

As readers eagerly look forward to the last novel on Harry Potter, hackers seem to get busy. Security firm Sophos is warning that a freshly launched computer worm is exploiting the Potter-mania by claiming Harry's death, as reported by Smarthouse on June 29, 2007.

Just after a few days' of a hacker's claim of disclosing the main parts of the final version of the Harry Potter book, a worm posing as the manuscript of the novel "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" has been in the wild.

Although the book is due for release on July 21 this year, fans are too eager to overlook the temptation of reading the manuscript that a USB drive claims to contain.

However, the attachment HarryPotter-TheDerathlyHallows.doc is actually the worm named Hairy-A. Allowing it to run on a PC, the worm will construct new identities for Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley and Harry Potter himself, the main protagonists in the story.

People worldwide are eagerly anticipating the final Harry Potter book and the launch show of the new film is also looming with excitement. The real danger, however, is that unwary users without judicious thought may let their USB flash drives to run automatically and cause the worm to infect their systems. A social engineering of this type proves a sufficiently intense malicious trick for Lord Voldermort, said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos. Smarthouse published this on June 29, 2007.

True some tales of a fictitious schoolboy wizard has inspired the creation of Hairy-A, but it does not make the mischief any harmless. A worm of this type, which corrupts others' computers and interferes with them without acquiring their users' consent is a serious crime, Cluley remarked. People behind such dastard acts should open the doors of their minds, let in some fresh sunshine and use their energies for some positive pursuit instead of writing such malicious code, he added, as reported by Smarthouse on June 29, 2007.

This message appears to keep in tune with Gabriel's comments that formed an injurious posting on a forum that described the conclusion of the book and scoffed against 'neo-paganism'.

» SPAMfighter News - 7/9/2007