Spread of Internet Virus May Be Slowing

A new Internet virus that appeared to be spreading rapidly throughout Asia, Australia and Europe seemed to be slowing down late Tuesday.

Computer security experts said the so-called worm, known as “Bagle” or “Beagle,” has had little effect in the U.S.

“The virus never had any legs,” said Vincent Gullotto, vice president of research at Network Associates Inc. in Santa Clara, Calif. “This one didn’t have any major hook -- overall, it was an attempt to create something new that used lots of components of other viruses.”

The “Bagle” or “Beagle” worm arrives in an e-mail with the subject “hi” and the word “test” in the message body. If the accompanying attachment is executed, the worm is unleashed and tries to send itself to e-mail addresses in the user’s address book.

Sometimes the attachment is designed to look like a Microsoft calculator, said David Perry, a spokesman for Tokyo-based anti-virus software firm Trend Micro Inc.

The virus affects only machines running Microsoft Corp.’s Windows operating systems.

“It’s clumsy,” Perry said, adding that most people knew better than to click on an attached calculator.

The worm started spreading Monday and most corporations already have protected themselves against it, Perry said.

Carey Nachenberg, chief architect of Symantec Research Labs in Cupertino, Calif., said home users were most at risk because companies had protected themselves quickly.

“We could see this fizzle out in several days,” Nachenberg said. “Or we could also see a lot of people infected” if they don’t update their anti-virus software.