Nothing romantic about new Romeo & Juliet Virus. (Security Supplement).

GFI, has discovered a hazardous new email virus that it named the Romeo & Juliet virus. The second virus this year to bear romantic connotations, following the Love Bug last May, Romeo & Juliet is particularly dangerous because current virus scanners cannot detect it. The virus is transported by an HTML email containing malicious code, an executable file called My Romeo and a compiled help file (.chm) called My Juliet. The Romeo & Juliet virus takes advantage of an exploit described by Georgi Guninski. The HTML code automatically runs an executable file. It then spreads across the Internet by connecting to a number of open relay sites.

"The Romeo & Juliet virus takes email viruses to alarming new dimensions, as it cannot be detected by anti-virus programs,' said Nick Galea, CEO of GFL "It seems to rely on HTML scripts to run an executable file without user intervention. The only way to protect your network against the Romeo & Juliet virus is to block it at server level using a content checking email gateway like Mail essentials, which can be set to filter all mails containing HTML scripts, as well as chin and exe attachments."

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