A person claiming to be the author of the Anna Kournikova virus
that is said to have infected millions of computers over the past
two days has said that he released the e-mail worm to test a claim
that e-mail users had learned nothing from the Love Bug virus.
The virus did not cause harm to data stored on computers but did
threaten to overload systems in the sending of bulk e-mails.
People who received the e-mail could be fooled into thinking
that a friend had intentionally sent them a picture of the tennis
star. If they opened the attachment, they would launch a Visual
Basic Script program that forwarded the e-mail to everyone in their
address book if they used either Microsoft Outlook or Outlook
Express.
The virus was created using a simple and widely available Visual
Basic Worm Generator developed by an Argentinian programmer called
“[K]Alamar”.
Using the name “OnTheFly”, the self-proclaimed author of the
Anna Kournikova virus yesterday posted a letter of confession on
the internet, addressed from the Netherlands. He writes:
“Last week I read an article about some
research (www.idc.com) about the impact of the LoveLetter-virus.
The title of that artikle says enough: IDC: internetters hebben
niets geleerd van I Love You (wich means in English: Surfing people
haven’t learned anything from the I Love You-virus)
“I think IDC is right. I also think that you
agree with me, according to the rate of spreading….Maybe this is
also Anna’s blame, she is so pretty..J
“Last thing I’d like to say is that I never
wanted to harm the people you opened the attachment. But after all:
it’s their own fault they got infected with the AnnaKournikova
virus, OnTheFly virus or watever they call it.
“To get rid of that virus, please visit the
regular anti-virus sites. They all have some antdote right
now.”
The virus differs from last year’s Love Bug virus in that it did
not corrupt data on the infected computer. John Leyden of news site
TheRegister.co.uk observed that, “Much like the tennis star
herself, the Anna Kournikova worm created a lot of interest and
attention when it hit the Net – but lacks anything like a powerful
smash.”
The spread of the virus has been considerably smaller-scale than
the Love Bug virus which, contrary to the IDC’s claim, suggests
that people are more cautious of e-mail attachments and that
offices have taken steps to improve their system security.
