July 25, 2004

A nasty virus circulating the net detailing the suicide of Bin Laden, and requesting recipients to open a file to view images of Bin Laden's suicide contains malicious software code, according to experts.

Named "Hackarmy", this latest Trojan allows hackers to take over infected computers running Microsoft's Windows operating system.

Internet security experts are recommending users update their anti-virus software on a regular basis.

"Hackers and virus writers will try all kinds of tricks to entice people into downloading their malicious code," said a statement by Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos. "It seems this time that the hacker has focused on the public's morbid curiosity and appetite for news on the war against terror."