New Storm Worm Variant

The US-CERT (Computer Emergency Readiness Team) announced last week Thursday that there is a new version of the Storm Worm circulating via email. This latest variant uses Subject lines that are related to the recent China earthquake and the upcoming Olympic Games.

The Subject lines used by these Storm Worm emails can change at any time, but some of the following ones have been reported being used:

• The most powerful quake hits China
• Countless victims of earthquake in China
• Death toll in China is growing
• Recent earthquake in china took a heavy toll
• Recent china earthquake kills million
• China is paralyzed by new earthquake
• Death toll in China exceeds 1000000
• A new powerful disaster in China
• A new deadly catastrophe in China
• 2008 Olympic Games are under the threat
• China's most deadly earthquake

This new variant of the Storm Worm contains a link within the email that will bring you to a website containing a video. If the video is opened, it may run an executable file "beijing.exe" which will infect the user's computer with malicious code.

If you receive an email with a similar Subject message as one of the ones listed above, do not open this email. In general, you should never follow links from emails which are unsolicited. Here are two helpful web site links from the US-CERT which will provide you with more information on avoiding email scams and phishing attacks:

• US-CERT Cyber Security Tip - Avoiding Social Engineering and Phishing Attacks
• US-CERT - Recognizing and Avoiding Email Scams (PDF document)