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Worm plagues the CIA, FBI news
24 November 2005
Imagine receiving a warning from the FBI or CIA just like this reporter did this morning (the sender's ID was shown as administrator@fbi.gov or it could be in some equally officious ID from the CIA) informing you that your IP address has been discovered visiting "illegal websites" and asks you to open an attachment to answer some official questions.

Don't open the notepad attachment to the mail - it is in reality a fast-spreading internet worm that looks like an official email from the CIA or FBI that leaves computers open to intruders and infects them with malicious software that can disable security and firewall programmes and send similar mails to contacts in your address book.

So serious is the threat of this worm, named Sober X, which has spread rapidly across countries, that the CIA and the FBI have displayed prominent warnings on their websites stating that they have not sent out the email and warned people against opening the attachment.

Interestingly, the email includes an authentic phone number for the FBI or CIA, which has kept their phone lines tied down answering anxious callers.

The bogus email can also keep users from getting to computer security websites that might fix the problem. It is equally capable of opening your Windows operating system to intruders who can access or misuse your personal data.

 


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Worm plagues the CIA, FBI