A new strain of computer virus that infects digital photographs has been spotted, with the potential to wreak havoc on the Internet, experts have warned.
The new virus, labeled Perrun, infects pictures that are being sent over the Internet. Though the bug has not been widely circulated on the Internet, experts say this new strain, if perfected, could cause a great deal of damage.
Most computer viruses work by infecting computer programme files - files that tell a computer to conduct some sort of calculation. The more common types of computer viruses arrive as an attachment to e-mail. A user has to open the attachment to activate the virus.
By contrast, Perrun infects data files, such as pictures, word processing and simple e-mails, themselves. That means a malicious sender can infect another user's computer by simply sending out an e-mail, and the receiver doesn't need to open the message to start the digital infection.
However, the users must first have a component, called a 'loader' already in their computers, which can arrive through an e-mail attachment, or piggy backed onto a downloaded programme.
The current form of the virus is relatively benign, experts say, but it has the potential to be changed by other virus writers into a 'very dangerous' piece of code.
