E-mail 'boss' gets on student nerves

The "big boss" has inundated inboxes with virus-ridden e-mails because the University's antivirus software failed to protect Tufts e-mail accounts.

The e-mail worm, known as Sobig, has circulated through the University's network for the past two days, infecting Windows computers when users open attachments to e-mails from big@boss.com.

When users open the attachment, the virus sends messages to e-mail addresses it finds on the computer, according to Symantec, an internet security company.

MacOS, Linux, and Unix computers are not affected.

Although Tufts' e-mail servers are equipped with antivirus protection which would supposedly protect against such infections, the system does not block the Sobig messages.

"[It] is a known issue with the antivirus software vendor Tufts uses," said a Tufts Computing and Communications Services employee, who asked to remain anonymous. Normally, he explained, "a virus would have been picked up and the infected payload file stripped off the e-mail."

As a stop gap measure, Tufts servers are rejecting all e-mail received from big@boss.com.

The virus is officially named W32.Sobig.A@mm, and the e-mails' subject lines include "Re: Movies," "Re: Sample," "Re: Document," and "Re: Here is that Sample."

Symantec upgraded the virus threat from low to moderate on Jan. 13 because the worm became more widespread. According to Symantec, moderate viruses can proliferate quickly, but are reasonably harmless and easy to contain.

If users delete the e-mail without opening the attachment, their computer will not be infected. The Symantec website offers a removal tool for computers that have already been infected.

To prevent the spread of similar virus worms, students should "look at the header info of the e-mail and if it is from a person who you don't know, don't open it, especially if it contains random file attachments," said the TCCS employee, who also suggested using an antivirus e-mail package.