The worm, once activated, proceeds to send e-mails to every single person listed within the Outlook contacts list. It also operates by deleting security on people’s PCs, thereby avoiding detection. While the worm is being spread predominantly through e-mail accounts, it also searches for open net links within PCs infected by the virus, and utilising the Windows Autorun feature available through USB drives.

According to the security firm Kasperdy, a number of large corporations have fallen victim to the worm, including Disney, Wells Fargo, Procter & Gamble and Nasa. The worm has taken e-mail addresses from these corporations and sent thousands of mails to the inboxes of victims, swamping systems.

The web site which hosted the worm has now been closed, but security officials are now warning that new variations on the worm are likely to emerge from other hosted sites. Similar to the ILoveYou bug, the worm succeeds through its exploitation of Outlook.

Dennis Fisher, an analyst from Kasperdy, reported: “The difference with those earlier attacks is that the e-mails typically carried the malicious file itself and didn’t rely on a link to a downloading site. But the technique used to entice users to click on the attachment or malicious link is the same: offer the user something he wants to see.”

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Microsoft’s reason for doing this? To protect the Windows software from becoming even more overrun with malware than it already is and in the process, try to rebut Mac users’ favourite criticism of PC’s, that they are more susceptible to malicious software than than macs.

There’s also a security concern to contend with. The vast majority of computers in the world use Windows, that includes some very important companies and government bodies, with some very sensitive information. If Microsoft wants to keep those clients, it’s in their interest to do something to halt the spread of infection.

The way to do that is to do something about the vast swathes of unprotected computers out there. When these systems fall prey fall prey to spyware programmers, as they frequently do, they become unwitting tools in the malware process, as malicious programmes use their contacts to cast their worms and trojans even further. If Microsoft can deny the hackers these extra contacts, then they will have gone a long way to halting the growth of the problem.

However, the plan is not without controversy. Whilst Microsoft claim that they are targeting only unprotected computers with their software, it is difficult to see how building a programme that essentially does the same thing as the offerings from McAfee, et al, won’t affect sales of their software.

Whilst I feel bad for the companies who’ve basically had their business model snatched away, it’s hard to argue that this isn’t a necessary step. Scares like the Conficker worm have opened people’s eyes to the fact that Malware is in danger of becoming unmanageable, in fact, in an age when around 90% of all email communication is spam, some would argue that we’re already there.

Hopefully Microsoft’s programme will be effective enough and marketed heavily enough to convince the masses of the need to think about security.

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Legacy locker actually removes much of the infuriating admin that people go through when someone close to them dies, which can only be welcome. What’s more, it’s secure. The programme only releases information once the death has been confirmed and then only once a death certificate has been supplied. It also keeps the information up to date by periodically trying your passwords and notifying you if any are out of date.

All in all, a useful, if a little sombre, tool.

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The delay is a little embarrassing, particularly after a conference in November where Adobe claimed as part of a company presentation to be “Taking the full Flash Player and making that run on the higher end of the mobile market.” – Kevin Lynch, Chief Technology Officer.

It’s worth remembering that the word iPhone was absent totally from that presentation. They did however claim that they would be 1 billion Flash-enabled phones by the close of 2009. Right now it looks as if they’re going to have to do that without the market leader.

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