W32/MyWife.d@MM!M24 is a mass mailing virus that contains its own SMTP engine to construct outgoing messages, has the ability to spread through open network shares, attempts to lower security settings, disables security software, and overwrites files. The threat activates the third of every month, starting tomorrow, February 3rd. The worm harvests addresses from local files and then uses the harvested addresses to send itself, producing a message with a spoofed "From" address.

MyWife.d ("W32/MyWife.d@MM!M24"), a new variant of the MyWife worm, was discovered on January 17, 2006 , and is scheduled to activate on infected computers on February 3. It is being called by different names, including MyWife.e, Kama Sutra, Blackworm, Blackmal, Nyxem.E, Grew A, and others.

MyWife.d, like its predecessors, is a mass-mailing worm that contains an infected attachment. Once a user opens the infected attachment, a hidden code is launched, which propagates the virus by e-mailing itself to stolen contacts found on a host computer.

The virus is scheduled to activate on the third day of each month. Friday , February 3 , 2006 , will be the first day for the virus to be triggered since its discovery on January 17, 2006 .

Although the risk of infection from this virus may be lower than others, the potential for damage from the destruction of files is much higher. Because of this, the virus has gotten more attention than most.

Virus Characteristics

This worm is proactively detected by 4642 and higher DAT's as W32/Generic.worm!p2p. 4677 and higher DAT's will detect this specifically as W32/MyWife.d@MM

This is a mass-mailing worm that bears the following characteristics:

• Contains its own SMTP engine to construct outgoing messages
• Spreads through open network shares
• Tries to lower security settings and disable security software
• Overwrites files on the 3rd of each month

• Make sure your anti-virus software is running, since the worm attempts to disable anti-virus software
• Make sure your anti-virus software definitions are up-to-date
• Scan your computer for viruses
• Make sure your important files are backed up

• Keep your Windows operating system up-to-date by setting it to automatically update
• Make sure your anti-virus software is running
• Make sure your anti-virus software is always up-to-date, either through automatic updates or by manually updating the software
• Install a personal firewall on your desktop
• Never open an attachment you suspect is compromised
• Delete any suspicious e-mail message