E-mail virus to continue rapid spread

Feb 5, 2004 12:00 PM

The Internet computer virus known as "Mydoom" will continue to hit e-mails on computers worldwide until Feb. 12, when it is programmed to stop, a computer security company tells Reuters.

"After that date it won't spread if the tainted computers are dated correctly," Mikko Hypponen, director of antivirus research at F-Secure, said Friday. "Of course, all computer clocks aren't always accurate, or dated correctly."

The worm, said to be the worst ever Internet epidemic, spreads in e-mail attachments on computers using Microsoft Corp.'s Windows operating systems and is activated when people read their mail. It is programmed to launch a worldwide attack on the Web site of SCO, one of the largest unix vendors in the world. Security experts described it as the biggest virus-like outbreak in months, made more problematic by its timing.

Unlike most computer worms which usually strike only once, Mydoom is particularly vicious because it will spread continuously from infected computers until Feb. 12, Hypponen said.

Russia is 80 percent likely to be the origin of the worm. Microsoft and SCO have together offered $500,000 for information leading to the arrest and prosecution of Mydoom's creators.

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