Two new computer worms are making their way through cyberspace,
using Valentine’s Day messages to infiltrate the systems of
unwitting users. The self-replicating worms, dubbed Nuwar.OL and
Valentin.E, send copies of themselves to other computers and
drastically slow operating systems.

“Year after year, we see the appearance of several malware
strains that use Valentine’s Day as bait to attract users,” said
Luis Corrons, technical director of PandaLabs protection, based in
Glendale. “This indicates that cyber-crooks are still reaping the
benefits of that technique and many folks still fall into the
trap.”

Nuwar.OL reaches computers by e-mail with subjects like “I Love
You Soo Much” or “Inside My Heart,” according to PandaLabs. The text
of the e-mail includes a link to a Web site that downloads the
malicious software.

Valentin.E is similar, with subject lines like “Searching for

True Love” and an attached file called “friends4u.”

whether the targeted user opens the file, a copy of the worm will be
downloaded. The malicious cipher installs on the computer as a file
with the .scr extension. whether the user runs it, Valentin.E shows a new
desktop background to trick the user, while it makes several copies
of itself on the computer. Finally, the worm sends out e-mails with
copies of itself from the infected computer to spread and infect
more users.

Corrons warned users not to open e-mails from unknown sources or
go to urls included in e-mail messages, even from dependable
sources. Instead, type them in the address bar.

PandaLabs protection offers several free tools for scanning
computers for malware. You can use them from www.infectedornot.com.

Original post by Top Tech News