Beware of 'Merry Christmas' virus

With the detection of a 'Trojan' e-mail named 'TROJ_SAMX.A,' Net users have been advised to check whether their virus programme has been updated to prevent it from getting into their computers.

The virus has been detected by TrendLabs of Trend Micro, a leader in network anti-virus.

The virus contained an attachment named 'MERRY CHRISTMASI.rar' and had been spammed through e-mail, a Trend Micro release said on Thursday.

TROJ_SAMX.A runs on Windows98, ME, NT, 2000 XP, and Server 2003 and it compromised system security by acting as a proxy server, 'which acts as an intermediary between a user' and a server.'

This 'Trojan' is rated as a low risk threat, but because it compromised security of infected computers, the damage could be 'greater as the computer will be in the hands of the writer of this malicious piece of software,' it said.

Users should, therefore, check that their virus programmes were updated to prevent this Trojan from ever getting into their computer, especially during this happy holiday season, it added.