Virus alert: Bagles all round as four more appear

The Bagle computer virus has almost run out of letters of the alphabet.

Virus writers' penchant for modifying the source code for the program has resulted in four new variants -- Bagle.Q, Bagle.R, Bagle.S and Bagle.T -- in the past two days, antivirus firms have confirmed.

The viruses attempt to use an ActiveX vulnerability, discovered in August, to automatically upload and run a program on the victim's computer, without needing the user to run a file. The viruses pose a threat to Windows users who have not updated their operating system since the patch came out in August.

Oliver Friedrichs, a senior manager in Symantec's security response team, said: "It is definitely a new thing that is involved. Most of the vulnerabilities used in the past have the program as part of the virus."

The four new variants of the virus add to the slew of slightly modified programs attempting to infect internet users. Virus writers have used the Bagle, NetSky and MyDoom worms to attempt to gain control of large numbers of PCs. Comments in some of the programs have led researchers to believe that the authors of at least two of the worms are competing against each other.

Robert Lemos writes for News.com