Potter worm weaves nasty spell
04/07/2007 11:57  - (SA)  

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London - Harry Potter fans beware. Hackers are taking advantage of Potter-mania with a new virus that has reportedly infected computers worldwide.

The W32/Hairy-A worm is disguising itself as a copy of JK Rowling's final novel Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

The novel is due for release on July 21.

Once in the user's system, the worm copies itself onto attached USB memory drives so it can spread to other computers.

A file called 'HarryPotter-TheDeathlyHallows.doc' can be found on infected computers and once opened it shows the message: "Harry Potter is dead."

The worm reportedly creates new users which are named after the main characters in Rowling's books - including Hermione Grainger and Ron Weasley.

The worm also changes the homepage of infected PCs to an Amazon.com page selling a book entitled Harry Putter and the Chamber of Cheesecakes.

Users have been advised to disable the auto-run facility of Windows so removable devices do not launch when attached to a PC.

- News24

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