Virus Writer Used Porn Site to Flood Internet

As they clicked on the pornographic image, they could not have realised the havoc they were about to cause. These internet users were triggering the biggest virus attack in history.

FBI investigators have now tracked down the source of the virus, known as SoBig F, to a porn website in Phoenix, Arizona. It was put on the net in the guise of a photograph posted in an adult 'newsgroup', a forum where users post messages and pictures. When people clicked to download the picture their computers unwittingly became infected and spread the virus which emailed copies of itself from their accounts.

The virus was uploaded on to the internet by an individual with an account at Easy news.com, an Arizona-based internet company. The account was set up just seven minutes before the virus first appeared. However, the writer has hidden his tracks well. The account was set up using a stolen credit card and via a computer, belonging to an unwitting resident of British Columbia, that had been hacked into by the virus writer.

The use of stolen property to set up the account will increase speculation that the virus writer is working with 'spammers', who send out mass junk emails.

Experts have appealed to the public to delete any emails they receive from the virus. They are easily recognised because the header field of the infected message begins 'Re:' followed by a phrase such as 'that movie' or 'your application'.