New virus deletes MP3 Files

[Roundabout]

Virus pits itself against music pirates

A hacker has created a virus that targets music lovers by deleting MP3 files on infected computers, according to antivirus company Sophos.

The worm, dubbed Nopir.B, spreads over peer-to-peer networks and appears to have originated in France, security researchers at Sophos said Friday.

Nopir.B is designed to look like a DVD-cracking program, to fool people looking for a program that will circumvent copy-restriction technology on the discs. When the worm is downloaded and run, it attempts to delete all MP3 music files and wipe some programs from the infected PC, the company said in its advisory.

Sophos said it believes the author of the virus may be looking to stamp out music piracy.

"The Nopir.B worm targets people it believes may be involved in piracy, but fails to discriminate between the true criminals and those who may have legally obtained MP3 files," Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos, said in a statement. "Whichever side of the fence you come down on in regards to Internet piracy, there's no debate about the criminal nature of this worm--it's designed to inflict malicious damage on people's Windows computers."

Sophos has received few reports of the virus, but recommended that people update their security software. The malicious software affects PCs running Microsoft Windows.

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[lumis]

i wonder what dvd cracking program its trying to disguise itself as?

if its dvd decrypter, then the poeple who download it are stupid.

if its anydvd, then the people who download it are attempting to commit software piracy and deserve what they get.

if its that 1-click rip-transcode-burn crap, then they totally deserve to get burned for attempting to pirate crappy software.

[RottenFoxBreath]

isnt it the crack for anydvd,keygen by razer or something.
scan first people...scan first.

[EvilWizardGlick]

Sounds like a RIAA/MPAA psyop to me.
Why would a virus go after mp3s?
Unless there was some money or incentive kicked back to the writer.

[Bullworth]

I have to be inclined to agree with Evil, why would anyone write a virus that targets MP3s or ripping programs? Then again it may be a coder who has finally seen the light
Good thing I have a compulsion to scan anything I download. I'd hate to loose all my MP3 after all those hours I spent ripping them. Still have the CDs but I wouldn't look forward to starting from scratch.

[Gurm]

NEW VIRUS TARGETS P2P!

NEW VIRUS TARGETS ANYDVD!

NEW VIRUS TARGETS MP3's!

Which new virus? Where is it? Note that all these announcements quote Sophos as their primary source, not that Sophos is any good.

[AlecWest]

NEW VIRUS TARGETS P2P!

NEW VIRUS TARGETS ANYDVD!

NEW VIRUS TARGETS MP3's!

Which new virus? Where is it? Note that all these announcements quote Sophos as their primary source, not that Sophos is any good.

How very, very interesting. At first, I took these reports seriously. But, only a handful of Nopir reports appear on Google News ... and all of them give reference to Sophos as the information source.

After checking both Symantec (Norton) and McAfee sites, there is no reference to anything with the name "Nopir" via searches on either site. Perhaps Sophos was just the first to discover it. But, if another couple of days go by without mention of it on Symantec & McAfee sites, it puts what Sophos says into question. If there's a threat out there, Symantec and McAfee would be on top of it as soon as they learned of it.

[Sabro]

Actually, its not a new *virus* but a new varient of the Nopir virus as Nopir.A already exist in the wild.

At the moment, its a low risk but as time moves on expect to hear more about it.

For those that know the core AV field, most companies are not using the C.A.R.O. or I.C.A.R.O. naming conventions anymore, making identification of the exact malware/varient alil tougher.

Your AV might report it as something else, where others call it by another name.

Sophos is actually a very good company, and I'd much more be willing to go with them them Norton or McAfee and I did/still do computer virus research for many many years.

Sabro

[Gurm]

I mistyped. Sophos IS perfectly good, although mostly in the business antivirus field.

However, I am suspicious of these virus rumors. VERY suspicious.