Trend Micro Warns of New Auto-email Trojan Virus `ICQGREETING' — Assigns Virus a `High Risk' Ranking - Company Business and Marketing

Edge: Work-Group Computing Report, Dec 20, 1999

Trend Micro Inc., a leading provider of Internet virus protection, has announced discovery of a new, fast-spreading trojan virus called TROJ_ICQGREETING that has the potential to spread very quickly and overwhelm email systems, prompting the company to give this latest Y2K virus a "high risk" assessment ranking.

Discovered recently in the United States, TROJ_ICQGREETING arrives as an executable file, ICQ_Greetings.exe, attached to an email message and is capable of infecting Windows 95/98/NT and 2000. Similar to TROJ_MYPICS, another recent Y2K virus, TROJ_ICQGREETING mass mails itself out to multiple addresses. Trend Micro has to develop detection for this virus in order to help stem its rapid spread and urges its customers to update their virus protection as quickly as possible to protect themselves from this latest Y2K virus threat. All computer users are also urged not to click on any attachments called ICQ_Greetings.exe.

The virus is called a "trojan" because it looks like a message from ICQ, when in fact it is an auto-email virus. ICQ is a tool similar to Netscape or AOL Instant Messenger that enables Internet users to know if their fellow surfers are on-line in real-time and to contact them directly.

How It Works

TROJ_ICQGREETING emails itself out as an executable file attachment with the name ICQ_Greetings.exe. It arrives in an email with no subject or message. Once the attachment is executed, the trojan drops a file in the Windows directory and modifies the registry. Once infected, the system automatically executes the ICQ program when rebooted.

Solutions Available from Trend Micro

TROJ_ICQGREETING can be detected by Trend Micro pattern file No. 620 and above. All Trend Micro customers are advised to download the latest pattern file and to not click on the email attachment ICQ_Greetings.exe. Concerned computer users can also surf to http://housecall.antivirus.com and use HouseCall, Trend Micro's free online virus scanning service, to detect and remove this malicious trojan and other viruses from their system.

More information about "TROJ_ICQGREETING" can be obtained from Trend Micro's Website at http://www.antivirus.com.

Trend Micro provides centrally controlled server-based virus protection and content-filtering products and services. By protecting information that flows through Internet gateways, email servers, and file servers, Trend Micro allows companies and managed service providers worldwide to stop viruses and other malicious code from a central point before they ever reach the desktop.

Trend Micro's corporate headquarters is located in Tokyo, Japan, with business units in North and South America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. Trend Micro's North American headquarters is located in Cupertino, CA. Trend Micro's products are sold directly and through a network of corporate, value-added resellers and managed service providers. Evaluation copies of all of Trend Micro's products may be downloaded from its awarding winning web site, http://www.antivirus.com.