Computer users were today warned to beware of a fast-spreading e-mail virus which promises a photograph of tennis star Anna Kournikova.
Experts said the new virus was spreading at twice the rate of Love Bug, which paralysed the e-mail servers of more than 100 million users last year.
The Kournikova virus tempts users with the message 'Hi: Check This!' ,together with what appears to be a picture file labelled 'AnnaKournikova.jpg.vbs'. But clicking on the file produces no picture. Instead, the virus e-mails itself to every address in the user's address book.
Although the virus is not believed to damage the computers it targets, it could paralyse companies' computer systems with the huge volume of e-mails it creates.
A chief anti-virus specialist at virus-monitoring company MessageLabs said that he had never seen anything spread as fast as this. A recent report showed attacks by e-mail viruses soared by 300% last year.
