Tuesday, July 17, 2012


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





16 comments:

  1. this blog is doing a nice blog,, your social information of this blog is so impressive..galinga uie^____^

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  2. nice dude, very well set! God Bless you. ^^

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  3. the way i read the whole article, it gave me the notion that such thing created out of awareness could somehow be destructive at some point, well, i guess he does not hold the curiosity among the crowd by clicking something in disguise so technically not all part is his fault(jan de wit). jub its so nice. the way you arrange the ideas were one step at a time, then easy to understand especially from the view point of a person who doesnt have any idea of such virus(me):) one thing more, be expressive dont limit your self , that's one thing that people could never stop you. good.

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  4. nice one jub,, ani jud ning inspire duh! hahaha! padayon lang sa paglambo jub.. suport lang mi nimu kung asa man moabot imu inspiration..wahahaa..LOL!
    anyways, nakasabot ku sa imu content, "ahh mao dei ning anna kournikova" (mao na sa aku mind) hahaa.


    ~ash

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  5. agree kay ko kay a-ann dude, indeed jud kaayo!:) jub! precise, concise ug clear imong content! I like it! :)

    @ann: blog with-in a blog kay imong drama ann! pwede i like? hehe, nice one a-ann! :) mapasmile ko sa imong kumento ^^

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  6. nice blog jub, i agree with louchan :D gwapa man d.i si anna kournikova nuh haha :D

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  7. nice blog killer smile....thumbs up ko nmo..^_^

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    Replies
    1. nice ato kay same jud ta.. pati topic.. weee

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  8. Pariha tag topc pero naa kuy na2n.an....! :) very informative!! Simplicity is beauty jud!! hehehe

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  9. I like the approach of your opinion, it gives awareness to people who are so into making viruses, making them realized that this kind of job is so not ethical... Like the simple design.

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  10. informative....
    maayos ang pagkaka deliver ng mga information
    I learn many things about this virus:D

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  11. nice 1 jub,, :D nice xa pagkabuhat jub, makarelate ang mga taong d ka relate.. ^.^

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