‘BlackWorm’ No Big Deal in Hong Kong

A number of officials and experts in Hong Kong and Tokyo say that the computer worm set to begin corrupting files around the world today has caused no major damage in the Asian financial centers of Hong Kong and Tokyo, the Associated Press (AP) reports.

The worm, deemed “BlackWorm,” “Kama Sutra,” “CME-24,” or “Mywife.E,” has the ability to corrupt any files with the extension “.doc”-any document created in Microsoft Word-“.pdf,” and “.zip.”  It is set to activate on the third of every month, and even if you don’t turn on your computer on those days, it could still effect your machine.  The worm is even programmed to deactivate out-of-date antivirus software.

“It’s well past the deadline but we haven’t confirmed any cases of Kama Sutra in Japan, which suggests we’re not looking at a major outbreak,” Itsuro Nishimoto, an executive at the Tokyo-based computer security firm LAC, told the AP.

Nishimoto said the threat of an attack was a “bluff,” and even if it weren’t, users could easily protect themselves and their computers by using up-to-date antivirus software, the AP reports.

Roy Ko, a manager at Hong Kong’s official computer emergencies coordination center, told the AP he had not received any reports of the worm infecting computers.

“It began spreading late last month but we haven’t received any calls in the past two weeks,” Ko said. “We don’t expect to receive any today either.”

For more on BlackWorm, read ’BlackWorm’ Set to Activate Friday.

-Al Sacco