Virus could take its pic of users' files

JPEGs under fire - but no reason to worry...

By Pia Heikkila, 14 June 2002 11:25

NEWS Anti-virus experts have discovered a piece of malware which could infect picture files. The virus, known as W32/Perrun-A, is currently only a proof of concept virus. The virus spreads via an executable file which, once launched, spreads the malicious code to any JPEG files stored on the computer. But anti-virus experts said there is little reason to be concerned at the moment. Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant from Sophos, said: "The virus relies entirely upon you running an infected .exe file, which is hardly rocket science. Yet we are already seeing reports suggesting that this virus could spread via websites containing so-called 'infectious' images. This sounds like scare-mongering to me."

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