Cybercrime Alert - Valentines Day Computer Virus

Valentines Day is coming within two weeks. The Tulsa Police Department Cybercrime Unit would like to alert the Businesses and Citizens of Tulsa to a Valentines Day Email Virus that is being sent out by Cybercrime Criminals.

The method of spreading the virus is by way of a “Greeting Card sent for Valentines Day” to the targeted user. The email message includes a link to download the card. However, if the user clicks the link and accepts the subsequent file download they will actually be letting the “Virus Worm” into their computer.

These malicious files have Valentines Day related romantic names such as “youanme.exe”, “onlyyou.exe”, and “meandyou.exe”. Once it has infected the computer, the worm uses the affected users email to send out spam. To do this, it collects all the email addresses stored on the user’s computer, and sends them an email like the one above in order to trick the other users into downloading the malware strain.

The Tulsa Police Department Cybercrime Unit recommends the following:
1. Do not open any emails that you do not personally recognize the sender.
2. Even if you do recognize the user, be very leery of opening attachments around Valentines Day.
3. Always keep your virus software updated and make sure it runs a scan on a regular basis of your entire computer.
4. Keep your Spyware Software updated and make sure it runs a scan on a regular basis of your entire computer.
5. If you suspect you have become a victim of this scam, immediately update your virus and Spyware software and run a complete scan.

Comments

[Jeff Gillman]

This is a good warning, but it's also like saying "the Ronco Model 420 steak knife with the black handle can be sharp and you may cut yourself!"; any executable can be dangerous, and there are hundreds, if not thousands, of similar things in the wild. It is possible that by warning people of specifics like this that people will infer that such things that are somewhat different are not dangerous. The list at the end helps, but #2 should be all year, not just on V-Day.