The new Mimail Internet worm variants spreading fast around the world appear to be taking aim at Web sites that fight spam, say anti-virus vendors.
Up to five variants of the Mimail worm have been circulating since late last week, and at least two attempt to use infected PCs to launch denial of service attacks on anti-spam Web sites.
"These variants of the Mimail worm are attempting to knock these anti-spam resources off the Internet - it`s a clear attack on everyone who is trying to use Internet e-mail for legitimate purposes," says Brett Myroff, CEO of local Sophos distributor, Netxactics.
"Are the people who fill everyone`s e-mail inboxes with spam also behind these viruses? It`s hard to say for certain. But it`s clear that these worms are doing nothing to help reduce the problem of unsolicited e-mail."
Myroff says two of the variants, W32/Mimail-E and W32/Mimail-H, are programmed to launch denial of service attacks against Web sites run by organisations that fight spam. Sites attacked by the viruses so far include those operated by SpamCop, SPEWS and The Spamhaus Project.
The worms arrive in the form of an e-mail inviting the recipient to a date or meeting that evening: "Will meet tonight as we agreed, because on Wednesday I don`t think I`ll make it, so don`t be late. And yes, by the way here is the file you asked for. It`s all written there. See you."
Other variants of the Mimail worm, Mimail.C, Mimail.D and Mimail.F, are spreading widely on the Internet posing as "private photos" taken at the beach. These variants spoof the recipient`s domain name in the sender line, and once opened, the worm targets a number of different Web sites with denial of service attacks.
International anti-virus vendors say variants D, F and H are all packed in a .zip file type that is not normally blocked by e-mail and network administrators. In addition, the virus author appears to have corrupted a header in the .zip file to confuse anti-virus scanners. Mimail can infect Windows 2000, NT, XP, 98, ME and 95 systems.
Related story:
Beware the private photo mail
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