Cyber Tennis Match: The Anna Kournikova Virus
In February of 2001, an internet based email worm dug its way into email boxes around the globe. The fast spreading virus was crafted with a Visual Basic Worm Generator and easily lured innocent targets in with an image of the famous, talented and gorgeous Anna Kournikova. She is an internationally-recognized tennis star best known for her amazing athletic accomplishments, her role as one of K-Swiss’ global ambassadors and her philanthropic work including collaborations with the Boys & Girls Club of America.
How the Anna Kournikova Virus Works
Recipients logged on to their accounts and found a suspicious email with a subject line titled, “Here you have, 
).” The body of the message contained a quick note stating, “Hi: Check This!” and an image of Anna Kournikova that became the catalyst for the damage. The attachment, dubbed “AnnaKournikova.jpg.vbs.” contained a secondary extension that was hidden and not on the radar of most users. Many assumed that they simply received a JPEG photo of the phenomenal tennis player.
As you may suspect, the virus was crafted to cause harm instead of help users. The worm, otherwise known as a VBS_Kalamar, VBS/SST and/or VBS/OnTheFly, was designed to copy itself into the Windows directory and then email to everyone in the user’s Outlook address book. In addition, on January 26th the virus redirected browsers to visit a website based in the Netherlands. The Anna Kournikova virus overloaded and crashed email servers due to the enormous number of emails generated. The worm was found to infect thousands of individuals throughout Europe and North America in just hours, including but not limited to over 50 enterprise companies.
The FBI was quick to respond and launched investigations soon after a young 20-year-old man turned himself in to authorities while in the town of Sneek; located in the northern province of Friesland in the Netherlands. The virus and worm designer is just one of many that have attempted to crash and interfere with online networks around the world.
Viruses named after celebrities have become popular for years. Every single day cyber-criminals attempt to use celebrity names to link users to other websites, spam, spyware and much more. Searches for Miley Cyrus, Lindsay Lohan, Jessica Alba, Robert Pattinson, and Jessica Biel are just a tasting of the starlette names that can cause havoc on your computer and your network. Online users need to constantly be on alert and be aware of what they are searching and where their search is directing them. It’s smart to be aware of the latest reports that list the top 10 dangerous celebrity names to search for.
Our team suggests that you should always think before you click. Celebrity images and celebrity news can be luring, but don’t trust an email from a sender you are not familiar with and remember to be cautious of sites that you are redirected to.