Another one out there for all who is interested
Avril Lavigne fan blamed for computer virus
7:29pm Thursday, 09th January 2003
A devoted fan of teenage rocker Avril Lavigne is thought to be behind a potentially damaging new computer virus.
More than 14,000 copies of the virus have been sent to the UK since Monday, according to one company.
MessageLabs, which provides an email detection service, says the virus tries to disable security software on the computer and retrieve personal passwords.
The virus is sent under a variety of names which typically come with attachments making identification difficult.
A number of the messages are designed to look like a fan club newsletter for 18-year-old Canadian star Lavigne.
Alex Shipp, senior anti-virus technologist at MessageLabs, said they found a clue to the creator of the virus when they examined it further.
"When you look in the code of the virus it says it's dedicated to Avril Lavigne - that she is his inspiration," he said.
"We first noticed it coming from France which may be where the author, who uses the name Otto, comes from."
He advised anyone who thinks they might have a message with the virus not to open it but also not to delete it as this activates it and sends the message to any email address it can find on the computer.
The best solution, he says, is to have the best up-to-date virus detecting software and to check regularly.