Worm virus alert: Magistr ate your emails

Known as Magistr.24876@mm, the polymorphic virus can render machines useless, after a 3-minute delay which renders the hard drive and BIOS dead.

The virus infects a random Word file on the user's hard drive. It then attaches that file and five other possibly confidential text files, to an email which it sends to all addresses in the user's email address book.

Magistr, which is far more complicated than the infamous Kournikova virus, contains its own SMTP handler that means it can mass email, not just from MS Outlook, but any email client.

Andre Post from e-security firm Symantec labelled the worm, which originally surfaced over the Christmas of 1999, in the guise of W32.Kriz, a 'high' damage and distribution risk.

Post said: "Its destructive force will be more widespread if it didn't 'kill' its host, which stops its ability to spread as quickly."