Low Graphics Wednesday, 5 December, 2001, 03:36 GMT
Goner virus causing e-mail havoc

New worm could be the biggest since the Love Bug

A powerful new computer virus is causing havoc with e-mail systems across the world.
Experts said the virus, called Goner, is spreading fast and are warning computer users to immediately delete it.

It was first detected on Tuesday morning in the US but experts believe it was created in Europe.
The US, the UK and France are the worst hit of the 17 countries affected so far.

Rogue e-mail
Goner can even disable anti-virus software in a computer.
The rogue e-mail is simply named 'hi' and arrives with an attachment - apparently a screensaver - called Gone.scr.
The message reads: "How are you? "When I saw this screensaver I immediately thought of you.

It's spreading with tremendous speed and thousands of users in Britain have already been sent it.
Alex Shipp
Ant-virus expert

"I'm in a harry (sic). I promise you'll love it."
Once the user clicks on the attachment, the "worm" sends itself to everyone in the user's e-mail address book, tries to close programs that are running and deletes certain system files.

Alex Shipp, of anti-virus service MessageLabs, based in Gloucestershire, said: "It's spreading with tremendous speed and thousands of users in Britain have already been sent it. "The virus mass mails itself out through e-mail and attempts to destroy anti-virus software on computers, which could prove extremely problematic for those unfortunate enough to receive it."

He said Goner is nearly as widesread as last year's notorious Love Bug virus, which infected hundreds of thousands of businesses and personal computers across the world, including the US Government. But it is also more sophisticated in that it can disable anti-virus software.

Mr Shipp added: "I think this will be nastier than Love Bug. "It has the same spread rate but the clean-up will be a lot harder." It was first discovered at 10.30GMT and took off five hours later. People are warned not to open unfamiliar attachments. Mr Shipp said it took advantage of the fad for new screensavers to entice people to double-click on it. He forecast that it will continue to wreak havoc on Wednesday and then quieten down as people download the necessary anti-virus software to beat it.
Goner mostly affects users of Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Express.

But Ian Hameroff, business manager of security solutions at Computer Associates International Inc, said people using ICQ instant messenger and Internet Relay Chat are also susceptible to the worm because files can be transferred across those networks.

Advice

Computer experts advise people not to open unexpected e-mail attachments, even if the sender is someone familiar. Computer users are advised to update their anti-virus software at least weekly. Software should be able to combat new viruses and not just react to ones already known.

At its peak, Love Bug infected 1 in 28 e-mails. Goner's infection rate reached 1 in 36 and was increasing on Tuesday.

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