Newest virus looks like Internet link

In a new and scary twist, a malevolent virus is being disguised to resemble a link to a Web page in an e-mail message.

The "My Party" virus is in an e-mail offer of "new photos from my party." The line at the bottom, "www.myparty.yahoo.com," may look like a link, but don't click on it.

Jimmy Kuo, of McAfee, a division of Network Associates, has feared that someone would use the antiquated DOS file extension ".com" to create a file that looks like a Web link. But he hadn't seen it done until Sunday, when the worm, which originated in Russia, made its first appearance in Canada. "It's sneaky," he says. "It fools the users in a different way than they've been fooled before."

If launched, the virus (strictly speaking, a "worm") sends itself to the contacts in your Microsoft Outlook address book; you're safe if you don't use Microsoft operating systems. It also plants a "Trojan horse" program that can give someone else access to your PC.

Most versions of the virus, which probably infected thousands of PCs, are only active through today. But "I expect to see more viruses like this," Kuo says.

Make sure you keep your virus software up to date; and before you click on a link in an e-mail, make sure it's not actually an attachment, which could be a virus.

mcafee.com