Please, if you have a Windows machine: there are some folks out there with
a Klez viral worm that hides it's location by substituting in other's
addresses.  PLEASE (!), do a virus check this week and then follow-up
regularly, folks, because some people in the ferret community apparently
have it on their machines at home or work, given the addresses that are
being substituted are of ferret people.  Those of us whose addresses are
in a lot of address books are finding folks kindly notifying us of a
problem when in some cases (like our's) it actually is elsewhere.
 
This is very dangerous worm.  Tiny segments follow of a marvelous Star
Tribune article that you can read at
http://www.startribune.com/stories/789/2856010.html titled: "Klez worm is
becoming a major threat"
 
>After infiltrating a computer, Klez often drops secondary infections...
>... "It could take the Net down."
 
>  ...accounts for more than 95 percent of all current infections and
>might have infiltrated as many as 7 percent of computers worldwide.
 
>Technically an Internet worm...  Worms spread using the Internet,
>mainly e-mail...
 
>Klez can be activated when the e-mail that carries it is previewed.
>But in most cases, it is set loose >when a computer user opens a
>file attached to that e-mail.
 
>harvest e-mail addresses from several places including Windows
>address book files, Web pages, and files >for chat programs.
 
>To prevent detection, Klez randomly inserts harvested e-mail addresses
>into the "from:" line of its messages.  It makes e-mail untraceable by
>routing it through unprotected computers, a favored technique of spammers.
 
Learn more, please, by reading that well-researched article and DO run
your virus detection software and clean up, esp.  since most folks are on
Windows (which is one reason why it is the target).
 
Meanwhile, be careful about opening attachments or simply don't open them
at all.  If someone is close to you then contact the person and ask if an
attachment was sent purposely.  If not, then get rid of it.
 
In doing these tings you help yourself as well as those you care about.
[Posted in FML issue 3796]