Nyxem-E not as lethal as first thought

3 February 2006 15:18 GMT / By Stuart Miles

It's been a hot topic all week, but it seems the excitement was all for nothing, as news reports suggest that the computer worm that was due to wreak havoc on the internet today hasn't.

Hundreds of thousands of computers were believed to have been infected, but security experts feel that a good awareness of the virus has thwarted its makers.

In an interview with AP, Mikko Hypponen, chief research officer for security company F-Secure Corp said: "It's been pretty quiet".

Called Nyxem-E, the virus is programmed to delete Word, Powerpoint, Excel and Acrobat and other common files on infected machines.

The virus, which also goes by the name of MyWife, Blackworm, Kama Sutra, Grew and CME-24 virus, first surfaced on 17 January.

It arrives as an attachment to emails promising pornography videos and pictures, but has more sinister plans.

Those still worried about whether or not they have got the virus can remove it with a free download from anti-virus company Symantec.

More instructions can be found at symantec.com

Full tags

Software, Online, Security software