Kama Sutra Virus a Dud So Far

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Reports indicate that damage from the Kama Sutra virus appears to be minimal thus far, however at least one security firm warned that the real results from the worm may not be known until later in the weekend.

The virus, which is also known as "Nyxem," "MyWife" and "Tearec," compromises files and was designed to activate on Friday, February 3. It will attempt to stop antivirus software and delete all Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access, ZIP, RAR and PDF files from a user's PC.

Estimates of machines that could possibly be affected by the worm ran from 300,000 to as high as a half million computers worldwide, with concentrations in the Eastern United States, Europe and India.

However, as of Friday afternoon, reported infections were minimal and Kama Sutra had only affected a few thousand computers in Europe. Publicity in the press as well as advanced warnings by security firms to customers may have contributed to the low rate of infection.

But security firm F-Secure was cautious about writing Kama Sutra off.

"The vast majority of the machines infected by Nyxem are home computers. Nothing will happen on them until people get home from work and boot up their machines," F-Secure chief research officer Mikko Hyppönen wrote in the company's Web log Friday.

"Half an hour later the damage starts. The user won't realize what's going on until an hour or two later, when it's already late Friday night."

The firm said that USB drives and all drives beginning with a letter appear to be at risk. Although in tests, Kama Sutra apparently could not damage files on network drives. Still, infected organizations were taking no chances; some reported shutting down their networks after discovering the worm on company machines.