An email worm of the 2001 "I Love You" variety started rapidly making its way around the globe Thursday, and variations on it are expected to persist. This one lures victims with the offer of free sex movies, but it involves the same old trick: An email message--with the subject line "Here you have" or "Just for you"--contains a link to a site which downloads malware onto the victim's computer, according to researchers at McAfee Labs. Then the malware makes its way into the victim's Windows directory.

"From there, it's 2001 all over again, as the worm attempts to mail itself to all of the contacts in the victim's Outlook address book," writes Dennis Fisher in a post at Kaspersky Lab's ThreatPost blog, adding that the malicious program attempts to stop security software as well.

This type of mass-mailing, "tried and true infection method" became infamous in the early 2000s, Fisher notes. However, in those early days, the malware typically was contained in the email rather than on a site that the victim was tricked into linking to.

According to the BBC, a number of companies have been hard hit by the worm, including AIG, Disney, Procter & Gamble and Wells Fargo.

For more:
- see the McAfee Lab's blog post
- read Dennis Fisher's post at Kasperksy Lab blog
- see this BBC article

Related Articles:
Mcrosoft issues warning of new browser-specific scareware
Antivirus defenses shaky, claims new report
Tests show fresh malware often gets past security programs
McAfee AV update fiasco brings down thousands of systems
New York Times falls victim to rogue ad