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Abingdon (pte015/10.12.2004/10:55) - An e-mail virus disguised as a nude glamour model which is designed to launch a series of denial-of-service attacks on websites run by Chechen rebel separatists has been discovered by experts. As the British IT portal The Register http://www.theregister.co.uk reports, the attacks are launched on the first day of every month.
The Maslan-C worm spreads via e-mail with the subject line "123" and an attached file called "Playgirls2.exe". Recipients of the e-mail who run the attached file further spread the e-mail worm and can become unwitting participants in distributed denial-of-service attacks. Targeted websites are all connected with the Chechen rebel movement. However, it is unlikely that the Maslan-C worm will succeed in swamping the targeted websites as there have only been a small number of reports thus far.
"These websites play a key role in the propaganda war between the Chechen rebels and the Kremlin," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos. "Clearly whoever has written this virus wants to make it harder for the Chechen separatists to publish information about their cause on the Internet. Whether you agree with the intention or not, spreading a virus to do this is criminal behaviour."
This is not the first time the Chechen separatist websites have been in the news. Only two weeks ago, the Russian Foreign Ministry asked Lithuanian authorities why the websites had resumed activity. Furthermore, it is not that fist time a virus has spread a political message. "Quaters-A" launched an attack on British prime minister Tony Blair, attempting to knock the Downing Street website off the internet, "Zafi-A" called for Hungarian patriotism at the time the country was supposed to join the European Union and "Cycle-A" complained about the quality of life in Iran.
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