In other virus-related news, malware authors have created a mass-mailing worm that poses as a plea for donations to victims of last month's Asian tsunami disaster. The VBSun-A worm prompts users to open an attachment which furthers the spread of the worm as well as initiating an attack on a German hacking website.

"Duping innocent users into believing that they may be helping the tsunami disaster aid efforts shows hackers stooping to a new low," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos. "This gruesome insensitivity is a despicable ploy to get curious computer users to run malicious code on their computers."

VBSun-A is not the first virus to make reference to the tsunami disaster. Earlier this month, the VBS/Geven-B worm tried to spread a sick message that the tsunami was God's revenge on "people who did bad on earth". The tsunami has also become the subject of a number of email scams. ®

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