The worm known as Goner, Gone or Pentagone, which began
infecting computers worldwide on Tuesday, was yesterday continuing
to cause problems, despite its low level of sophistication compared
to some other recent viruses. Its rate of dissemination has now
been significantly reduced according to antvirus software
companies.
The worm is spread by ICQ instant messenger or Microsoft Outlook
e-mail with the subject line “Hi” and a message which encourages
the user to click on an attachment called GONE.SCR, which purports
to be a screensaver. The attachment is a Visual Basic program
which, if activated, copies itself into the user’s hard drive and
forwards itself to those in the user’s Microsoft Outlook address
book. It also attempts to disable antivirus and firewall software
which fails to recognise. Antivirus companies quickly offered
patches to prevent and cure the problems caused by the worm.
Some antivirus companies are describing Goner as the biggest
virus threat since the Love Bug virus of last May; others are less
impressed by it, with McAfee.com putting it in seventh place in a
ranking of the world’s worst viruses. According to the company,
Asia was relatively unaffected by Goner, although the US, UK France
and Germany were badly hit.
The spread of Goner has surprised many security experts who had
thought that few people would be tricked by the message
accompanying the attachment in light of past virus scares. The
message reads:
"How are you?
When I saw this screen saver, I immediately
thought about you I am in a harry, I promise you will love it!"
Other recent viruses, such as Nimda and BadTrans, were much more
sophisticated yet did not spread as quickly as Goner.
