A virus - which infected a large number of French corporations in March this year - has made its way to Australian shores, laying down its heavy handed tactics on at least one corporation.
The PE_MAGISTR.A virus - otherwise known as Judge - is currently ranked number three on Trend Micro's Top Ten virus meter and has been described as "very destructive" and "still of major concern".
The virus is sent with an email which does not have a subject line, message body, or an attachment.
It is described as a "polymorphic" virus, which has both a virus and Trojan component that infect the local system as well as all files with .EXE and .SCR extensions.
Once the file is executed, the Trojan infects all files in the Windows System and then sends infected files to the users' address book via MS Outlook, Outlook Express and Netscape Navigator.
The virus was first detected in France in March, where a large number of infections were reported.
It did not spread very quickly, however, so was put on medium alert.
Another Internet worm on the run is the Badtrans virus, which is reportedly making its way around the world slowly. The virus is ranked number four on ZDNet's virus meter.
A clever virus, Badtrands arrives carrying an email with a subject line relating to an email you have previously sent. The message asks you to "take a look at the attachment".
Badtrands does not damage the infected machine, however, it may shut down email servers due to an increase in traffic loads.
No reports of infections have been recorded in Australia.
