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P2P worm deletes MP3 files

22 April 2005 14:26 by James "Dela" Delahunty | 5 comments

A new worm that has been discovered posing on P2P networks as DVD copying software has a bit of an anti-piracy twist to it. The worm, Nopir-B, searches through your computer for MP3 files and then deletes them. It also disables some system utilities and wipes .COM programs while it is displaying an anti-piracy picture. The virus, believed to have originated in France is spreading but very slowly and doesn't pose much of a risk other than wiping your music collection.

Whatever our views are on piracy, this virus is still of criminal nature. "The Nopir-B worm targets people it believes may be involved in piracy, but fails to discriminate between the true criminals and those who may have legally obtained MP3 files. Whichever side of the fence you come down on in regards to internet piracy, there's no debate about the criminal nature of this worm," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos.

This is not the first virus to target music on infected PCs; the Klez-F worm spread around in 2002 and overwrote MP3 files on certain days. The Scrambler worm made MP3s sound like scratched records and the Mylife-G worm overwrote MP3 files with the words "my lIfE". This new Nopir-B worm will probably stop spreading very quickly, but just imagine other viruses like Blaster or Sasser were programmed to delete music files.

Source:
The Register

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Pop_Smith (Senior Member) 22 April 2005 14:44
I would say, the MPAA is retarded. They probably (even though its illegal, suprized they haven't resorted to them yet) will create a SoBig-type virus that mass spreads extremely quickly and deletes your MP3s. This sucks but, at least it isn't very wide spread. Peace, Pop Smith [ + quote]
Cman (Member) 22 April 2005 15:20
I hope nobody is naieve enough to think the MPAA/RIAA didn't have a hand in this.. [ + quote]
drzayus01 (Junior Member) 22 April 2005 15:54
I would not doubt it at all! [ + quote]
nonoitall (Member) 22 April 2005 18:29
This is why I never download programs off of P2P networks, even if they've been scanned for viruses. A program doesn't need to have a virus in it to be harmful. Only if I have the hash code of the file from a reputable source will I trust a program obtained from a P2P network. [ + quote]
EVILZED (Inactive) 2 May 2005 15:44
WOW i never heared of these clever people man if you ask me just continue a multi session disc and burn LEGAl every mp3 you get before that worm gets it [ + quote]