Storm Worm Virus Advisory
Date: September 27, 2007
To: All U of U Students, Staff and Faculty
From: Office of Information Technology and the Information Security Office
Subject: Storm Worm Virus Advisory
The Storm Worm virus targets Windows operating systems and is one of the most insidious and persistent threats to date. A computer infected with the virus joins a network of other infected computers that may be remotely controlled to send out spam, spread the infection to other computers, and participate in on-line attacks of websites.
A computer can become infected with the Storm Worm virus in several ways. The most common are:
* opening an email attachment with a .exe suffix,
* downloading an infected file from a website, or
* visiting a malicious website with out-of-date versions of web browsers or browser plug-ins installed on your computer.
Storm Worm is constantly being changed by its authors and it is designed to avoid detection. The anti-virus software on a computer may not detect Storm Worm or prevent it from infecting the computer.
Unfortunately, the only sure way to remove all traces of the Storm Worm virus from an infected computer is to completely erase and re-format the hard drive, then reinstall the operating system and software.
There are a number of things that you can do to reduce the risk of your computer becoming infected with the Storm Worm.
* Do not open files received as attachments to email.
* If you receive an email that contains links to other websites, do not open files found on those sites.
* Do not visit new websites advertised in emails.
* Keep your computer's Windows software patched and up-to-date.
* Use the most up-to-date version of web browser software and plug-ins.
* Install anti-virus software and update it frequently.
* Install a host-based software firewall with notification and filtering of new out-bound network connections.
If you do not understand these steps, or have other questions, please talk to your local network administrator or contact Steve Scott with the Campus Information Security Office at 
.
------------------------------------------------------------
Distribution of this message was approved by Stephen Hess, Associate Academic Vice President for Information Technology, University of Utah Phone (801) 581-3100, 101 Wasatch Drive, Eccles Broadcast Center, Salt Lake City, UT 84112
