e-mail virus wreaking havoc on servers across the world

WASHINGTON: An e-mail virus has launched a "phishing attack" on servers across the globe, including those at ABC, NASA, Comcast, and Google and possibly US Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

The virus, called "Here You Have" or VBMania, is a Trojan Horse that arrives through e-mail in your inbox with the suggestive subject line "here you have," and the body message "This is The Document I told you about, you can find it Here" or "This is The Free Download Sex Movies, you can find it Here," reports Fox News.

Leading virus monitors such as McAfee Labs and Symantec are investigating the virus threat, which launches a program on selecting the link in the message, and spams the virus out to everyone in the address book.

"It's a phishing attack -- when you click on the link in an e-mail it goes into the address book. It was clogging a bunch of e-mail and that's it....It's too early to say how sophisticated it was, but a number of companies and agencies were affected," officials said.

It was especially challenging to monitor this particular virus, as it appeared to be replicating in several forms, noted McAfee's experts.

"Basic cyber security practices and hygiene are essential to maintaining the security of networks and individual computers," DHS spokeswoman Amy Kudwa advised, adding that that Homeland Security's experts were investigating the situation.