CANBERRA - Hackers are exploiting concern over bird flu by releasing a computer virus attached to an email passing itself off as containing information about the epidemic.
The virus, known as the Naiva.A Trojan horse, masquerades as a Microsoft Word document with subject lines such as "Outbreak in North America" and "What is avian influenza (bird flu)?"
When the Word file is opened, the virus modifies, creates and delete files.
A second part of the virus installs a program that allows hackers to gain remote control of infected computers.
It is not known how many computers have so far been infected.
Computer security specialist Allan Bell said computer users needed to be careful when handling email, even if it looked legitimate.
"They fake the email header so it looks like it comes from somewhere that's authoritative," he said.
"The overall lesson is always be careful about unsolicited attachments that you receive.
"Be suspicious of things you receive in email and if you are unsure you can submit it to companies like McAfee - we have services where we will automatically scan it to see if there is a virus in the attachment."
Mr Bell said computer users should ensure they were running up-to-date, anti-virus software, set up a personal firewall and run anti-spyware software.
- AAP
Computer virus exploits bird flu scare
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