HELSINKI, Finland - Spammers are exploiting the public's interest in this week's European storm to spread a computer virus that sends junk e-mail, computer security experts said Friday.
The malicious program, dubbed "Storm Worm," has infected at least 10,000 PCs worldwide, said Mikko Hypponen, the head of research at F-Secure Corp. The virus arrives as an attachment to an e-mail.
The e-mails' subject line -- "230 dead as storm batters Europe" -- refers to Thursday's storm that disrupted travel for tens of thousands, shut down power and killed at least 47 people.
"The timing is particularly clever," Hypponen said. "They are taking advantage of people's curiosity in a natural disaster that has news value."
Once the attachment is opened, the virus is installed, allowing spammers to take control of the infected PC without the victims' knowledge. The computers can then be used to send more junk e-mail or pass along personal information.
The attachment itself is usually named "Full Clip.exe," "Full Story.exe," "Read More.exe" and "Video.exe."
"What is significant here ... is the timely nature of this assault in relation to the European storm," Hypponen said. "Malware gangs are clearly using every technique and even tragedies like these to gain access to vulnerable machines."
