Jan 17, 2005 12:01 PM PST    Text size: 

The newest MyDoom mutant, now in its 35th incarnation, sends variable emails with exe, scr, pif or Zip file attachments, some of which contain sexually explicit images and claim that the attachment contains passwords for an adult website called WorldXXXPass.com, F-Secure warned.

Once the malware makes its way onto compromised computers, the worm harvests email addresses and regenerates itself through its own SMTP. The malicious program also appears as a returned email.

A level 2 warning claims the variant has the potential to cause a large swath of infections and might be local to a specific region. A level 1 warning indicates that a virus has the potential to cause a worldwide epidemic like the Nimda or Loveletter viruses.

MyDoom first made an appearance in early 2004 and quickly took the world by storm, surpassing the path of cyber destruction left behind by SoBig.F and becoming the fastest-spreading worm in Internet history.

A study done by email security company IE Internet claims that the MyDoom worm dominated IE Internet's statistics for the first two months of 2004, averaging 82 percent of all detected viruses for January and February.