Vivid contract-performer Jenna Jameson announced over the weekend that her attorneys have asked the F.B.I. to track down the creators of a virus masked as a ClubJenna screensaver. rnrn
The virus is actually a new variant of the Yaha e-mail worm that was released last month. Yaha comes attached in an email, masked as a screensaver (.scr), executable (.exe) or .com file. Two common file names used for the virus are "sexy_jenna.scr" and "Jenna_Jemson.scr."rnrn
The email containing the virus often includes the subject line "Screensavers from Club Jenna" though other subject lines are used as well.rnrn
"Over the holidays a person or persons set off a virus on the Internet using a phony label 'Screensavers from Club Jenna," said Jameson. "This malicious act has inconvenienced countless innocent people who have been affected by the virus. ClubJenna does not condone spamming and never attaches anything to our emails. Plus, we would never ask anyone to download anything from our emails." rnrn
The virus also forges or spoofs the "from" address in such a way that it appears that the sender is someone other than the actual sender. One such spoofed email address is [email protected] , an email account that does not actually exist. rnrn
If the attachment is opened, the worm propagates via email using its own built-in SMTP engine that captures e-mail addresses saved in Outlook and similar programs. The worm terminates security-related processes, leaving computer networks vulnerable to more serious attacks, and contains code to deliver a denial of service attack against a remote machine rnrn
"We have alerted the F.B.I Internet Fraud Department and we intend to pursue the criminals that have perpetrated this cowardly act," said Jameson, who is chairwoman of ClubJenna, Inc., the company that manages her site and those of several other adult personalities. rnrn
The company posted a notice on the ClubJenna website warning members not to open any email called "sexy_jenna.scr." rnrn
ClubJenna asked anyone with information about the virus to contact the company by email at [email protected] or call its attorney, Gary Crandell, at 303-322-0101.rnrn
While the latest security patches for anti-virus software should be able to remove the worm, the worm may disable the anti-virus software during the scanning process. In that case, check your anti-virus software manufacturer for a tool designed to specifically remove Yaha and related viruses.
