The
Anna Kournikova VBS.SST computer virus, informally known as “Anna”, is a viral
worm that was authorized by a 20-year old Dutch programmer Jan De Wit on
February 11, 2001. The virus was created using a simple and widely available
Visual Basic Worm Generator program developed by an Argentinean programmer
called “Kalamar”. It was designed to infect the Windows Systems when a user
unwittingly opens an e-mail message purportedly containing an attachment that
appears to be a graphic image of Russian tennis star Anna Kournikova, while
actually hiding a malicious program. However, when the file is opened, a
clandestine code extension enables the worm to copy itself to the Windows
directory and then send a file to all the people or addresses listed in
Microsoft Outlook e-mail address book. The virus arrives as e-mail with the
following subject, message, and attachment.
Subject:
Here you have, ;o)
Message
body: Hi: Check This!
Attachment:
AnnaKournikova.jpg.vbs
The virus does not affect MacOs, Linux
and Unix Systems, and if Windows Scripting Host is installed. It was classified
as worm because of virus’ ability to mail itself out to a large number of
Internet users. The worm was released onto the Internet in e-mail servers as a
precaution. The Anna Kournikova virus did not corrupt data on the infected
computer. Apparently, the author created the virus in a matter of hours. It was
believed that the virus proliferated fast and in just 5 hours of its release,
about 2900 replicas of the worm became detectable in 290 individual
Web-domains. Kournikova caused a great deal of inconvenience and irritation but
its effects were much milder than the other reported virus.
By the time De Wit understood what the
virus did; he had conferred with his parents and decided to go to the
police. He turned himself in to the
police in his hometown Sneek at Netherlands on February 14, 2001, a few days
after the virus was released. Lawyers for Jan De Wit have called for the
dismissal of charges against him, arguing that the worm caused minimal damage.
The FBI submitted evidence to the Dutch court, suggesting that $166,000 in
damages was caused by the worm, based on the reports of damage from 55 firms.
Prosecutor called for a sentence of 240 hours community service at the
beginning of the trial that De Wit spread data into a computer network with the
intension of causing damage. The charges carry a maximum sentence of four years
in prison and a fine of 100,000 guilders ($41,300). De Wit admitted he created
the worm using a virus creation toolkit but told the court when he posted the
virus to a newsgroup he did it “without thinking and without overseeing the
consequences”. He denied any intent to cause damage. The Anna Kournikova virus
caused nothing like the damage caused by the otherwise similar Love bug or the
Melissa virus, estimated to cause $80million – worth of the damages.
In my personal view, Jan De Wit created
such virus out of curiosity so he uses the virus creation toolkit using the
image of Anna kournikova because during that time she was a famous and a gorgeous
tennis player. Although he intentionally created such virus out of curiosity
but he never think widely that in the future it can give great deal of
inconvenience and damages. This Anna Kournikova virus was easily spread out,
because in human nature, we are curios of anything that we really want to know,
just like the image of Anna Kournikova. Most people during those times really
want to see something behind this famous tennis player that’s why whenever they
see her name in the e-mail, they curiously open it without knowing that it is
already a virus. The moment that they open it, the virus will spread out and
multiply. Whatever happens that time serves as a good point to remember to be careful in reading e-mail and to care for the importance of virus-protection and data backup.
References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Kournikova_(computer_virus)
http://news.cnet.com/2100-1001-252579.html
http://www.fireav.com/virusinfo/library/sst.htm
http://www.llrx.com/columns/notes39.htm
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2001/09/14/anna_kournikova_virus_author_stands/
http://searchenterprisedesktop.techtarget.com/definition/Anna-Kournikova-virus
