Software giant targeted once again…

Bucharest, Romania - July 11, 2002 - BitDefender Response Team today warns against a new malicious code for PC's running Microsoft ® Windows, spreading across open shares and identifying itself as a "Copyright Microsoft Corp." code. As the FunLove worm, using the same spreading methods, is still troubling large, insufficiently protected networks, experts say that the new Datom worm (Win32.Worm.Datom.A) has definitely a niche to exploit.

Using ingenious techniques to conceal from heuristic detection, the worm's body is composed of three files. "Taken separately, these files cannot be considered as malware, but together, they form a pretty malicious code" said Costin Ionescu, Virus Researcher at BitDefender. "The worm has also the ability to hide its Windows Registry keys in normal mode and to disable certain security software installed on the system. This could mark an evolution for viruses' modus operandi" concluded Costin.

The virus attempts to connect to the Microsoft's website (http://www.microsoft.com) and drops copies of its body in all shared folders and subfolders in the victim's network.

BitDefender Response Team instantly released a removal tool for this new threat, available for FREE on the Internet, at http://www.bitdefender.com/html/free_tools.php, together with other free antivirus solutions.

For technical details about this threat and about its removal, please visit the BitDefender Virus Center at http://www.bitdefender.com/html/virus_info.php.

BitDefender Professional starts at $ 44.95, including an entire year of free services and updates, and a free 30-day trial version may be downloaded from HERE.

About SOFTWIN:
Founded in 1990, SOFTWIN is the leader of the software industry in Romania, employing now more than 400 professionals committed to personalized attention and client orientation. The company developed and applied cutting edge technologies at worldwide level in over 500 software applications and more than 2500 data conversion projects for clients in the United States and Europe. The SOFTWIN headquarters are in Bucharest, Romania.

The mission of the SOFTWIN data security department is to ensure the protection of systems against computer viruses, to do antivirus research, to develop new technologies for monitoring all possible ways to infect a system and, last but not least, to educate the IT public of the danger of computer viruses.

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