A new virus, which was spotted in the wild this morning and is provisionally being dubbed "ILOVEYOU", has been identified by anti-virus vendors as high-risk.
Symantec SA reports an inundation of calls since the virus appeared, but as the virus is so new there is no cure yet and the full effects of the virus still have to be established. The only solution suggested so far has been an erection of a blockade to all e-mail with the "ILOVEYOU" subject, and the disablement of the Microsoft preview pane.
ITWeb has studied the source code of the virus and some of its effects include the infection of mIRC, Internet Explorer, MS Outlook, the registry files, and more. It self-replicates itself via e-mail, sending itself to your contact list, making it more of a worm than a true virus. The virus contains the name "Spyder" and the "AMMERSoft Group, Manila, Philippines" in the header, but whether this organisation or person is responsible for the virus is not yet clear.
Users are advised to disable their preview panes if using Microsoft Outlook, and to not open any e-mails with "ILOVEYOU", or similar variants, as a subject line. As always, never open attachments.
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