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Email worm is one-day wonder

Germany weakest link in minor virus outbreak

By John Leyden • Get more from this author

Posted in Malware, 4th September 2001 11:08 GMT

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A worm, which threatened massive network disruption, has turned into a one-day wonder.

Apost, which travels as an attachment to emails and infects Windows machines, was discovered yesterday by antivirus firms. But after an initial flare up of infections in Germany, the outbreak seems to have been contained.

Whether this is down to an increase in users' common sense or the Labour Day holiday in the US yesterday isn't clear.

Apost, which affects Windows PCs, commonly arrives as an email with the subject line "As per your request!" and Sircam-style body-text "Please find attached file for your review. I look forward to hear from you again very soon. Thank you."

If users are stupid enough to open the infected attachment "readme.exe", they risk infection. ®

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