Cyberspace fizzed May 12 when what's called a "new and complex computer virus," Fizzer, which is believed able to disable anti-virus software, whipped around the cyberworld quickly through peer-to-peer file swap service Kazaa and e-mail, with Asian businesses said to be the first reporting the virus's attacks.
Wired reported late in the day that tens of thousands of Fizzer infections had hit Europe with more expected in North America, since Fizzer first appeared four days earlier. A British virus detection firm, MessageLabs, told the magazine they recorded 17,765 Fizzer cases in a 24-hour span, causing them to upgrade the warning to high risk.
The damage expectation, however, wasn't expected to be even close to that caused by SQL Slammer in January, Wired added.
Described by Network Associates antivirus team leader Vincent Gullotto as a complex of previously known malicious virus tactics, Fizzer shows up in an e-mail with an attention-grabber for a subject line and activates when a recipient opens an attached .exe, .pif, .com, or .scr file, the magazine said. Once opened, it hits the Kazaa shared files folder if the recipient uses Kazaa and spreads to other computers and finds information for other contacts in Microsoft Outlook before mailing itself to others, Wired said.
