W97M.AntiSocial.E Virus | 
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W97M.AntiSocial.E is a macro virus that infects Word 97 documents.
When the infected file is opened, the virus will drop two files named SS.BAS and SS.VBS on the root of the C: drive. Next, the
HKEY_CURRENT_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\ WindowsCurrent\Version\Run
registry key will be modified to automatically run C:\SS.VBS each time Windows is launched. When SS.VBS script is run, it will infect Word's global template (Normal.Dot). When repairing this virus, please make sure to remove this registry entry and also delete SS.BAS and SS.VBS files to avoid re-infection.
In addition, the virus will automatically send an email to the first 60 email addresses registered in the Microsoft Outlook address book, with the SUBJECT line titled "Important Message From username" and the body of the email containing the text, "Look what I found…". The virus prevents itself from spamming email more than once by setting
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\ Sixtieth Skeptic
registry key with a value called "Where's Jamie?". Once this value is set, the virus will no longer send any further email.
As of Sept 3, 1999, Symantec AntiVirus Research Center has not received any confirmed reports of infection nor submission of this virus from any of our worldwide customers. SARC does not believe it is spreading quickly at this time.
Symantec Security Response encourages all users and administrators to adhere to the following basic security "best practices":
- Turn off and remove unneeded services. By default, many operating systems install auxiliary services that are not critical, such as an FTP server, telnet, and a Web server. These services are avenues of attack. If they are removed, blended threats have less avenues of attack and you have fewer services to maintain through patch updates.
- If a blended threat exploits one or more network services, disable, or block access to, those services until a patch is applied.
- Always keep your patch levels up-to-date, especially on computers that host public services and are accessible through the firewall, such as HTTP, FTP, mail, and DNS services (for example, all Windows-based computers should have the current Service Pack installed.). Additionally, please apply any security updates that are mentioned in this writeup, in trusted Security Bulletins, or on vendor Web sites.
- Enforce a password policy. Complex passwords make it difficult to crack password files on compromised computers. This helps to prevent or limit damage when a computer is compromised.
- Configure your email server to block or remove email that contains file attachments that are commonly used to spread viruses, such as .vbs, .bat, .exe, .pif and .scr files.
- Isolate infected computers quickly to prevent further compromising your organization. Perform a forensic analysis and restore the computers using trusted media.
- Train employees not to open attachments unless they are expecting them. Also, do not execute software that is downloaded from the Internet unless it has been scanned for viruses. Simply visiting a compromised Web site can cause infection if certain browser vulnerabilities are not patched.
If you believe you have been infected, please download the latest virus definitions via LiveUpdate or from the Symantec Security Response Web site.
- Click here for instructions on using LiveUpdate to retrieve virus definitions.
- Click here to manually download and install virus definitions from the Symantec Security Response Web site.
Write-up by: Motoaki Yamamura
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