VBS.TQLL.A@mm

SUMMARY

VBS.TQLL.A@mm is a worm that is written in Visual Basic Script. As of 6:00 P.M. PST on December 29, 2000, Symantec has had no confirmed reports
of this virus, and it is considered low risk at this time.

The worm is sent by email with the following subject, message, and attachment:

Subject: New Year !

Message: Wow Happy New Year !

Attachment: happynewyear.txt.vbs

The attachment size is 10,390 bytes.

The worm will not execute by simply reading the email message. If the attached Happynewyear.txt.vbs file is executed, it creates a malicious program named 3k.exe in the Windows folder. Happynewyear.txt.vbs will then run 3k.exe automatically. 3k.exe is a Trojan horse program. Norton AntiVirus will detect it as Backdoor.TQLL. The worm also sends itself to everyone in your Microsoft Outlook address book.

Protection

• Virus Definitions (Intelligent Updater) December 29, 2000

Threat Assessment

Wild

• Wild Level: Low
• Number of Infections: 0 - 49
• Number of Sites: 0 - 2
• Geographical Distribution: Low
• Threat Containment: Easy
• Removal: Easy

Damage

• Damage Level: Low
• Large Scale E-mailing: Everyone in Microsoft Address Book

Distribution

• Distribution Level: Low
• Subject of Email: Wow Happy New Year !
• Name of Attachment: happynewyear.txt.vbs
• Size of Attachment: 10,390 Bytes

TECHNICAL DETAILS

Some of the content of the VBS script is encrypted using simple encryption. Because of this, it is not possible to filter for this worm by looking for specific text within the VBS code.

Recommendations

Symantec Security Response encourages all users and administrators to adhere to the following basic security "best practices":

• Turn off and remove unneeded services. By default, many operating systems install auxiliary services that are not critical, such as an FTP server, telnet, and a Web server. These services are avenues of attack. If they are removed, blended threats have less avenues of attack and you have fewer services to maintain through patch updates.
• If a blended threat exploits one or more network services, disable, or block access to, those services until a patch is applied.
• Always keep your patch levels up-to-date, especially on computers that host public services and are accessible through the firewall, such as HTTP, FTP, mail, and DNS services (for example, all Windows-based computers should have the current Service Pack installed.). Additionally, please apply any security updates that are mentioned in this writeup, in trusted Security Bulletins, or on vendor Web sites.
• Enforce a password policy. Complex passwords make it difficult to crack password files on compromised computers. This helps to prevent or limit damage when a computer is compromised.
• Configure your email server to block or remove email that contains file attachments that are commonly used to spread viruses, such as .vbs, .bat, .exe, .pif and .scr files.
• Isolate infected computers quickly to prevent further compromising your organization. Perform a forensic analysis and restore the computers using trusted media.
• Train employees not to open attachments unless they are expecting them. Also, do not execute software that is downloaded from the Internet unless it has been scanned for viruses. Simply visiting a compromised Web site can cause infection if certain browser vulnerabilities are not patched.

REMOVAL

To remove this worm:

1. Run LiveUpdate to make sure that you have the most recent definitions.
2. Start Norton AntiVirus (NAV), and run a full system scan. Unless you are using Norton AntiVirus 2001, make sure that NAV is set to scan all files.
3. Delete any files that are detected as infected by VBS.TQLL.A@mm or Backdoor.TQLL.