Yahoo quickly steps on e-mail worm
Yahoo discovered a malicious software "worm" designed to borrow into its free e-mail service and has neutralized the threat, the US Internet search giant said.
"Once we were aware of it we put a solution in place," said Kelly Podboy, a spokeswoman for the Mountain View, California, company.
"It has been resolved. We don't know how many users were impacted, but we believe it was a very small fraction."
An estimated 238 million people worldwide use Yahoo's free Web-based e-mail service, according to a recent industry analysis.
The Yamanner worm was apparently tailored to target Yahoo Mail users, according to Podboy.
Yahoo learned of the worm on Monday and automatically distributed a protective software modification that day, Podboy said.
Yahoo advised its e-mail users to make have updated anti-virus software on their computers and to block any incoming e-mail from sender "av3Ayahoo.com."
"When we learn of e-mail abuse, such as a worm or other online threat, we take appropriate action," Podboy said.
"Yahoo continues to take a multi-faceted approach to protecting consumers against scams and online threats through the use of enhanced filtering and e-mail authentication technologies, industry collaboration, public policy efforts, and increasing consumer awareness."
Reproduced from an article published by Yahoo! News
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The original article can be viewed here:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060613/tc_afp/usitinternetworm
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