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5 December 2001

Screensaver worm spreading fast - Sophos protects against Goner-A

Sophos, a world leader in corporate anti-virus protection, is warning users to beware of the Goner worm (W32/Goner-A). First detected on 4 December, 2001, Sophos has already received a significant amount of calls from infected users.

The email arrives with the subject line 'Hi' and carries an infected attachment called GONE.SCR, posing as a screensaver. Once activated, the worm spreads to all contacts in the user's Outlook address book.

"This worm highlights the importance of being suspicious about anything that arrives unexpectedly in your inbox," said Stuart Palmer, managing director for Sophos Anti-Virus Australia and New Zealand. "Worms like these are wolves in sheep's clothing. Posing as innocent games, pictures or screensavers they are in fact much more sinister. Even if the email appears to have come from a friend it still should not be automatically trusted."

Once activated the worm attempts to disable a number of different anti-virus products from the infected computer by deleting files from the installation directory. Sophos is urging computer users to update their anti-virus protection now and be wary of all emails containing unsolicited attachments.

Sophos has issued protection against this worm. Read more about the Goner worm and download protection.

Sophos's ten point plan for a safe computing policy can be found here.

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Sophos Security Threat Report 2009
  • USA number 1 for malware and spam
  • Huge surge in email attachment attacks
  • Scareware makes users buy bogus products

About Sophos

Sophos enables enterprises all over the world to secure and control their IT infrastructure. Sophos's network access control, endpoint, web and email solutions simplify security to provide integrated defenses against malware, spyware, intrusions, unwanted applications, spam, policy abuse, data leakage and compliance drift. With over 20 years of experience, Sophos protects over 100 million users in nearly 150 countries with its reliably engineered security solutions and services. Recognized for its high level of customer satisfaction and powerful yet easy-to-use solutions, Sophos has received many industry awards, as well as positive reviews and certifications.

Sophos is headquartered in Boston, US and Oxford, UK. More information is available at www.sophos.com