[H]ardNews 4th Edition

Virus Disguised As MSN Messenger Beta

There is a new virus out there that is disguising itself as MSN Messenger Beta to trick people into installing the virus. Most of you are smart enough not to fall for this kind of stuff BUT we all know people who would fall for it, so spread the word.

The virus, which F-Secure calls Virkel.F, comes as a file called BETA8WEBINSTALL.EXE that can be downloaded from a Web site. Running the program installs not a new MSN Messenger beta, but rather a virus that sends download links to a computer user's MSN Messenger buddies. The virus falsely labels the link as "MSN Messenger 8 Working BETA."