Microsoft Warns About 'Worm' Virus

03/08/2003 Written by Associated Press

SEAT­TLE — Microsoft Corp. is warn­ing its cus­tomers about a com­puter worm that exploits a flaw in its Inter­net Explorer browser.

A secu­rity bul­letin on the company’s Web site says Microsoft started inves­ti­gat­ing a “mass mailer worm,” dubbed W32/Mimail(at)MM, late Fri­day morning.

The worm spreads through e-​mail if recip­i­ents open an attached zip file — used to con­dense infor­ma­tion so it can move faster over the Inter­net — then open an HTML file inside the zip file, the bul­letin said.

The worm exploits a vul­ner­a­bil­ity the com­pany addressed in a secu­rity bul­letin issued April 23, the bul­letin said.

On Sat­ur­day, Microsoft spokesman Sean Sund­wall down­played the worm’s poten­tial to cause major secu­rity prob­lems.

If some­one opens the e-​mail, the zip file and the HTML file, the virus is sent to all e-​mail addresses the worm finds on that com­puter, Sund­wall said.

“The dam­age is sim­ply an annoy­ing e-​mail,” Sund­wall said.

Microsoft’s Web site directs cus­tomers to a secu­rity patch designed to fix the prob­lem.

ON THE NET

Microsoft: www​.microsoft​.com/​s​e​c​urity