'Naked Wife' threatens computer chaos
A new computer virus called Naked Wife is hitting businesses across the United States, Canada and Europe.
The latest rogue file uses the same lurid tactics as the recent Kournikova virus to dupe complacent users into helping it spread.
But, unlike its predecessor, it carries a more damaging payload capable of deleting almost all a computer's vital system files.
"It essentially destroys your Windows operating system," says Steve Trilling, director of research at the Symantec Antivirus Research Centre.
Trilling says the e-mail attachment, which arrives with the subject line FW: Naked Wife, also sends itself out to everyone in the user's e-mail address book.
He says the virus may have come from Brazil. Information inside the virus source code mentions AGF Brasil, an insurance company, and the name MHSantos.
"One could fake this stuff, but indications in a virus for the most part tend to be correct," Trilling says, adding that names found in the recent Love Letter virus eventually led to that program's creator.
