A computer virus that tries to dupe recipients into opening an infected file called 11september.exe has appeared over the Internet but so far has caused little damage, the anti-virus company Sophos said on Wednesday.
The worm, officially called W32/Chet-A, arrives in the form of an e-mail attachment called 11september.exe.
The body of the e-mail message urges recipients to click on the attachment to see evidence of money laundering and photographic evidence of friendly dialogue between the US government and Osama bin Laden, leader of the al-Qaida terrorist network.
The message goes on to describe how it contains evidence that the Federal Bureau of Investigations in the United States discussed with al-Qaida the best way to kill as many people as possible in New York.
”The Chet worm author is the latest to use psychological tricks to try to dupe users into opening malicious code; however, this is probably the sickest and lamest trick to date,” said Graham Cluley, a senior technology consultant to Sophos. ”The implausibility of the allegations contained in the worm’s e-mail will hopefully mean most people will instantly recognise this as suspicious.” – Sapa-DPA