MyParty Worm Spreading

Called MyParty, the worm arrives via e-mail with the subject line, "new photos from my party!" The body of the e-mail reads, "I have attached my web [CQ page with new photos," and includes an attachment, www.myparty.yahoo.com.

When the attachment is opened, the worm spreads by mailing itself to all the addresses in the user's Windows Address book and addresses found in files with the extension .DBX.

Symantec received 266 samples of the worm from both corporate and consumer users around the world, a spokesman said. The vendor gave the worm a rating of 3 on a scale of 5, with 5 being the most serious.

McAfee, a division of Network Associates, ranked MyParty a medium risk. The worm surfaced Sunday night and doesn't carry a destructive payload, according to McAfee AVERT researchers.

Computer Associates and other vendors Monday released antivirus software updates to detect and block the worm.