Less than a week after the Code Red computer virus wreaked havoc around the world, another worm is infecting systems with tainted e-mail and sending private files to people in the victim's address book.
The latest threat, called Sircam, goes one step further than Code Red, which wriggled through holes in nearly 300,000 Microsoft servers and defaced Web sites.
According to Internet security companies, Sircam mails out a random file from the infected computer's hard disk, sometimes taking its subject headline from the file. That makes it harder to spot than previous worms such as Anna Kournikova, named after the sexy tennis star, that had a predictable subject line and text.
The Computer Emergency Response Team Co-ordination Centre in Hong Kong received eight complaints of incidents between late Monday night and yesterday afternoon, consultant Patrick Li said. Anti-virus companies also reported another 60-odd victims.
'We will rate it as high-risk, at least for distribution,' Mr Li said.
Computer security firm Symantec rates the risk posed by Sircam four out of five. In one of about 20 cases, the worm will cause all files and directories on the C drive to vanish. In one of about 33 times, it would fill up the remaining space on the hard disk, Symantec said on its Web site.
The worm, which surfaced on July 16, reportedly has hit more than 5,000 users in 50 countries, according to Xinhua. There were indications that it came from the city of Cuitzeo, in Mexico's state of Michoacan, it said.