Worm alert: 'Hacktivists' target Outlook users

The worm, which is thought to originate in Sri Lanka, is also known as VBSWG.Z, and is generated with a readily available VBSWG virus toolkit. Its authors appear to be making a political statement about recent developments in the country.

It is similar to two other well-known email worms: Anna Kournikova and Homepage. The worm spreads using Outlook address books, and sends messages with a subject "Mawanella", a body text of "Mawanella is one of the Sri Lanka's Muslim village" and an attachment called Mawanella.vbs.

When the attached file is executed, the worm will send itself to each recipient in the user's address book. Afterwards, the worm displays a simple picture of a house and a political message.

The full text is: "Mawanella is one of the Sri Lanka's Muslim Village. This brutal incident happened here 2 Muslim Mosques & 100 Shops are burnt. I hat this incident, What about you? I can destroy your computer. I didn't do that because I am a peace-loving citizen."

Jack Clark, a product manager at Network Associates, which has so far received reports of 54 Mawanella viruses in the wild, said there is uncertainty whether the message is an act of "
'hacktivism' or not.

"The virus appears to have a political message but we cannot be sure if it's a genuine story or not. It's not the first time viruses have been harnessed to be used as a political tool," he said.

Patches for this worm are already available for download from the major anti-virus vendors' websites.