Blaster Worm hits ARRL Headquarters

[Linnea]

from ARRL email bulletin -

* Spam a result of virus e-mail spoofing, not from ARRL: Spam that appears
to be coming from ARRL Headquarters e-mail addresses is a result of
computer worms capable of e-mail "spoofing" and is not coming from ARRL.
Complaints from the began arriving this week to ARRL Headquarters about
received spam that looked like it had come from ARRL's e-mail system.
Outside of routine correspondence, the ARRL only sends e-mail to its
members who request mailings, such as W1AW bulletins and The ARRL Letter.
ARRL Information Systems Department Manager Don Durand says so-called worm programs are the culprit. "What happens is that this worm--and many
others--will infect someone's machine," he explained. The worm takes
addresses from the user's personal address book and uses them on the
"From:" line of a piece of e-mail. "The worm will then take the rest of
the personal address book and send notes to everyone in it, varying the
'From:' line as it goes." Durand said the worm programs can use arrl.org
e-mail addresses it harvests from others' machines to propagate and
replicate itself. The latest SoBig.f variant began circulating August 19.
Durand said ARRL has been receiving dozens of calls from victims of e-mail
spoofing. "It's everywhere," he said of the SoBig worm. "It's not slowing
down." Network Associates has upped its threat rating for SoBig to "high."
NAI has more information on the worm on its Web site
<http://vil.nai.com/vil/content/v_100561.htm>.