The worm, believed to be of French origin, has been found on
peer-to-peer networks, which are frequently used for internet
piracy, through the illegal sharing of copyrighted material such as
music, films and software.
Pirates can also make unauthorised copies of commercial
DVD
s and video games by using copying software, which
circumvents the security features normally contained on the
products.
According to Sophos, the worm takes a vigilante approach to
internet piracy. It is disguised as a
DVD
-cracking
code; but when downloaded onto a computer running Windows, it tries
to delete all
MP3
music files and other programs from
the infected computer.
"The Nopir-B worm targets people it believes may be involved
in piracy, but fails to discriminate between the true criminals and
those who may have
MP3
files they have created
themselves," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for
Sophos.
"Whichever side of the fence you come down on in regards to
internet piracy, there's no debate about the criminal nature of
this worm – designed to inflict malicious damage on people's
Windows computers," he added.
There have been only a few reports of the worm, but Sophos
advises users to keep their anti-virus software up to date.
