Internet worm wages war on piracy
Internet worm wages war on piracy
Apr 27, 2005: A new worm is circulating the Internet which takes the law into its own hands against Internet music pirates by wiping MP3 files.
The worm was discovered by anti-virus software vendor Sophos' global network of virus and spam analysis centres.
The W32/Nopir-B worm, which appears to have originated in France, spreads via peer-to-peer file-sharing systems posing as a hacked utility to make copies of commercial DVDs. When opened, it displays an anti-piracy graphic, and attempts to delete all MP3 music files, disable various system utilities, and wipe .com programs on the infected PC.
"The Internet is swamped with people pirating movies and music, costing the entertainment industry millions each year. The Nopir-B worm targets people it believes may be involved in piracy, but fails to discriminate between the true criminals and those who may have MP3 files they have created themselves," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos. "Whichever side of the fence you come down on in regards to Internet privacy, there's no debate about the criminal nature of this worm, designed to inflict malicious damage on people's Windows computers."
Although there have only been a small reports of the worm, Sophos recommends computer users ensure their anti-virus software is up to date.
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