Enterprise IT Suffering from ‘Here You Have’ Virus

Like the Kournikova virus, the new W32/Autorun-BHO fools users into clicking on an infected email with the “Here you have” or “Just for you” subject titles. Unfortunately, this simple technique was highly effective in slowing down enterprise IT departments.

While the source of the “Here you have” virus that spread like wildfire throughout corporate email servers around the globe may have finally been shut down, enterprise IT departments are still dealing with the fallout from one of the most virulent and fast-moving viruses in recent history.

According to security researchers at Cisco’s (NASDAQ: CSCO) IronPort division, the “Here you have” email worm peaked Thursday when the sneaky “download-and-run” malware accounted for a staggering 14.2 percent of all spam messages circulating the Internet — or more than 42 billion individual spam messages.

Security software firm Sophos, which identified the malware as W32/Autorun-BHO, said the U.K.-based website responsible for spreading the Windows-based virus was shut down sometime Friday, bringing an end to the upheaval.

In the interim, however, the “Here you have” virus clogged corporate email servers around the world. Researchers at Cisco and Sophos reported that outbreak disrupted email systems at large companies, including Comcast, Wells Fargo, Coca-Cola and Google.

Read the rest at eSecurity Planet.