!! HELPIT !! – SoBig.F
It would appear that a variant of the SoBig computer virus which first hit our screens in August 2003 is back to haunt us once again.
Online reports put this new virus strain, SoBig.F as spreading to 134 countries in just 96 hours and if it carries on at this pace, could be the fastest‐spreading virus of all time. If could also become the most prevalent.
It has already cost British businesses alone, hundreds of millions of Pounds in lost orders and system crashes with PC World in the UK reporting that they have cleaned tens of thousands of infected computers so far.
Experts fear as more and more unsuspecting users open emails and ‘activate’ the virus, it could see a global slowdown of the internet by up to 60 per cent due to the increase in Spam emails attributed to SoBig.F.
According to analysts, the SoBig virus appeared to have been written by spammers trying to find a way to bypass anti‐spam protection and internet filters that block their messages.
What SoBig.F Does And How It Is Activated?
The SoBig.F variant of the original SoBig virus, is ‘activated’ when a recipient of an infected email, opens an email and any attachment that comes with the email. The virus, then attaches itself to the address book of the recipient’s computer and sends multiple emails using its own mail server to addresses in the address book.
The virus may also create a ‘backdoor’ on infected computers allowing the virus to use the infected computer as a host to send out more and more infected emails ad‐hoc.
How Will You Know If A Message Is Infected Or Not?
In short you won’t. Users will need to be vigilant and be mindful that even an email from a friend, family member or even their bank, could be infected.
Usually, emails that are infected regardless of what email address they have come from will contain the following or variant of these in the “subject” line:‐
Re: Approved
Re: Details
Re: Re: My details
Re: Thank you!
Re: That movie
Re: Wicked screensaver
Re: Your application
Thank you!
Your details
Attachments that could contain the virus waiting to be ‘activated’, might have the following names or variants of:‐
application.pif
details.pif
document_9446.pif
document_all.pif
movie0045.pif
thank_you.pif
your_details.pif
your_document.pif
wicked_scr.scr
How Will You Know If Your Computer Has Been Affected?
There are only two easy ways of knowing if your computer has been affected.
If a recipient of an email notifies you that your computer has sent them an email containing the SoBig.F virus. If you notice a go‐slow on your computer – that is your computer slows down, becomes less responsive, or is very slow to load web pages or simply doesn’t load them at all.
You Have The Latest Anti‐Virus – Could You Still Become Infected Or Be Infected?
Yes you could. Much like the flu in humans, you do not know you have got it until you sneeze! You can of course get the ‘flu injection’, but that will only give you the anti‐bodies from previous known strains of the flu. If a new variant arrives on the scene, you could still get it.
The SoBig.F is no different. Computer anti‐virus programmers and software companies can only programme a fix or stop an infection, once they know what the infection is, what it does and how it works.
Does This Affect All Computers Or Just PCs?
It would appear that the SoBig.F virus is intended to create the biggest disruption and this will be through PC or Windows based computers.
The Apple operating system works in a different way to Windows, simply not allowing any programme, good or bad to add entries to system files. Apple operating systems are almost ‘self‐policing’.
Never say never though! A variant may appear that none of us suspected, which could affect Macs as well.
What Do You Do If You Suspect You Have SoBig.F?
Contact your preferred computer technician.
If you contact Algarve Computer Centre, and you mention this “HELPIT” document, the newspaper Algarve Resident or the radio station KISS FM, we will discount our virus removal charge by 40 per cent and donate 5 Euros for every computer fixed with this problem to the fund to help eradicate Polio worldwide through Rotary International.
We will also give your computer a FREE health check.
www.algarvecomputercentre.com | repairs@algarvecomputercentre.com
t. (+351) 282 356 560 | f. (+351) 282 356 562
