Malicious worm delivers a damaging New Year`s wish

Computer Associates International, Inc. (CA) today assigned a medium-to-high risk to Reeezak, a malicious computer worm (also known as W32/Reeezak.A@mm, W32/Zacker.C@mm and W32.Maldal.C@mm) which propagates through email by masquerading as a Macromedia Flash holiday greeting.

Reeezak arrives as an email with the subject line: "Happy New Year" and a message body text:

"Hii I can`t describe my feelings But all i can say is Happy New Year :) bye" and the attachment: "Christmas.exe"

Based on initial analysis by CA`s eTrust global antivirus researchers, Reeezak spreads upon execution by sending itself to every email address in the infected computer user`s Microsoft Outlook address book. The worm also has the ability to disable selective keys on the infected user`s computer keyboard and delete all the files found in the Windows System Directory, rendering the computer inoperable.

"Holiday-themed threats, such as Reeezak, remind us that computer users should never let their guard down when using the Internet," said Ian Hameroff, director of antivirus solutions, CA. "Be on the lookout for suspicious messages - they may be bearing gifts that you don`t want."

CA`s eTrust global antivirus researchers will shortly release a new signature for its award-winning antivirus solutions - eTrust InoculateIT, eTrust Antivirus and eTrust EZ Antivirus. Additional information is available at http://ca.com/virusinfo.