Worm.Kazaa.Benjamin
We regret to announce the detection of the network worm "Worm.Kazaa.Benjamin" - the first malicious program to spread through the KaZaA file exchange network.
The KaZaA network is one of the most popular file exchange networks using Peer-to-Peer (P2P) technology. Millions of people from all around the world are active users of the network that allows them to quickly dig up files they seek (such as MP3 files) and give other users access to data contained on their own computers.
On an infected computer "Benjamin" creates a directory accessible to other users of the KaZaA network and regularly copies itself into this directory under a multitude of different names, the amount of which counts several thousand. When a network user conducts a search for a file under a name corresponding with one the worm's pseudonyms the unsuspecting user is given the chance to download it from the infected computer. Thus, this is how Benjamin spreads itself through the KaZaA network.
In addition to eating up free disk space Benjamin takes additional actions: under the name of the infected computer's owner it opens an anonymous web site from which it displays advertising banners. This way Benjamin's creator profits by the resulting increase in advertising displays.
"Benjamin" is not the first known worm to exploit public access P2P
file exchange networks. Previously the Gnutella file exchange network fell
victim to virus creators. This event once again demonstrates the necessity to filter all incoming files for viruses, regardless of
how well protected this or any other network is. Before use, all data should
be run through a mandatory check for virus code using the latest virus
database update.
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