Hoax Bird Flu Email Used to Spread Virus and Hijack Computers; How to Protect

Computer hackers are exploiting increasing fears over bird flu by releasing a computer virus attached to an email passing itself off as containing avian flu information, warned Spanish virus protection software firm Panda Software.

The virus Naiva.A masquerades as a word document with email subject lines such as Outbreak In North America and What Is Avian Influenza (bird flu)?, said the firm on its website.

When the file is opened, the virus creates, delete and modifies files. A second part of the virus installs a programme (backdoor) that allows hackers to gain remote control of the infected computers effectively turning it into a zombie waiting to be exploited by herdmasters.

The firm said the virus can not spread on its own but needs to be manually distributed via email, Internet downloads or file transfers.

The email header is faked to make it look authoritative.

Prevention
Do not download / execute any email attachments from strangers. Even if the email attachment is from a known person / friend ensure that the content is something he would normally write. It is better to double-check by confirming from your friend that he has actually send you this attachment. To view any attachment first save it to your computer. Then use your virus protection software (like McAffee) to check the attachment before opening it.
Note: Often your virus protection software will automatically check the attachment when you try to open it. If that is the case you don’t need to save it first.

Update your virus protection software with the latest version and/or data files from their interface.

If you do not use any virus protection software use one immediately. Two well-known free virus protection software are AVG and ClamWin. ClamWin is GPL’ed software. AVG is a free version from a commercial entity.