Bagle Variant On The Loose

This recent Bagle version drops a trojan that tries to download itself from a wide variety of locations. Those computer users who activate the attached file unknowingly unleash the virus, which harvests email addresses it locates on the users' hard drives. The virus then forwards itself by way of the list of email addresses it has discovered in the infected computer. Once activated, the Bagle downloader variant places a copy of an executable file onto the compromised computers. That file then polls a vast list of URLs for the availability of a new mass-mailing component.

According to MessageLabs, the subject lines for the infected email is empty, and no body text is included. Roughly 70 variants have been reported of Bagle, which have been tracked since the virus first appeared in January 2004.