It's name is Bugbear, and we're not talking cute and fuzzy like. Some of you may have heard it's name mentioned here and there over the past few weeks. This "worm" has currently hit the top of the charts for the fastest spreading virus as of late. MessageLabs, a popular email and security service provider reported that it had intercepted 21,000 copies of the Bugbear virus, as opposed to 6,000 of the Klez.H variant.

 

The Bugbear worm is shaping up into the most serious Internet threat in months, according to security researchers, as it surpassed the lingering Klez.H to become the fastest-spreading virus of the moment. Antivirus company Symantec on Wednesday upgraded the virus to a danger rating of "4" out of a possible "5".

 

One of the factors that has made Bugbear spread so quickly is the way it disguises infected messages. Besides the common method of sending a message with a randomly-selected heading and "From" field, the virus can also create a message as a reply or forward of an existing message.

Here are a few links that may be of use (Source: ZDNet):

Microsoft: Outlook patch
Help and How-To: Bugbear
Symantec, McAfee, Sophos, F-Secure, Central Command

More information @ ZDNet