E-mail worm pretends to have spy images

A new e-mail worm has surfaced that purports to show screensavers of U.S. spy satellite pictures of Iraq or animations that are either patriotic or that mock President Bush.

The worm, dubbed Ganda-A, spreads by sending itself to e-mail addresses on an infected machine and tries to disable anti-virus and other security software and infect certain files on the hard disk, according to Sophos.

Ganda, which does not appear to be spreading and is rated low risk, sends e-mail in English or Swedish. It is signed by “Uncle Roger in Hornsand, Sweden,” who complains in a message about being discriminated against in the Swedish school system, Sophos said.

Subject lines include: “Spy pics,” “GO USA!!!!,” “G.W Bush animation,” and others like “Catlover,” and “Disgusting propaganda.”

Ganda also sends a message in Swedish to e-mail addresses apparently belonging to Swedish journalists, Sophos said.

After the September 11 attacks, a worm circulated that tricked computer users by pretending to contain images of the World Trade Center attack.

Source: CNN