One of the fastest spreading computer viruses ever is attacking Irish businesses and home computer users resulting in thousands of unwanted emails being sent over the Internet.
The SOBIG F virus has hit millions of users around the world. Experts believe it originates from the senders of junk email, known as spammers, who are trying to find corporate networks vulnerable to mass email advertising campaigns.
The SOBIG virus phenomenon is not a new virus, but this ‘F’ version is being described as the most effective and dangerous yet.
Once users open an infected email attachment the virus plunders their address book for new victims, and tries to implant a background programme allowing spammers to target the computer in future campaigns.
Irish Internet security firm Entropy says SOBIG is a growing threat, particularly as computer users will receive infected emails from names they would usually trust.
It once again puts the spotlight on the security of computer networks which was highlighted earlier this month by the Blaster virus, which focussed its attack on certain Microsoft operating systems.
