A new e-mail virus is threatening to sweep across the State and send confidential or embarrassing documents to unsuspecting computer users, it emerged today.
SirCam, a more sophisticated version of viruses such as the so-called Love Bug and the Anna Kournikova worm, randomly selects files from a computer's hard drive to send to every name in the victim's address book.
Potentially embarrassing or commercially sensitive material could be e-mailed to friends or clients.
The virus is activated by opening the attachment and could have originated from Argentina where a series of viruses have been produced.
It was first noted by anti-virus companies last week and has the added trick of changing the message in the e-mail subject line every time it attacks a new computer. Instead it uses the name of the file that has been taken from the computer's hard disk.
PA