Job advert hidden in Net virus

[Tami]

LONDON, England (Reuters) -- Times must be getting tough for computer virus writers.

Technicians at British anti-virus firm Sophos said on Friday they had discovered a plea for work inserted deep in the lines of code for two new computer worm outbreaks, "MyDoom-U" and "MyDoom-V."

"We searching 4 work in AV (anti-virus) industry," read the message. Because it was inserted in the code, the message was only visible to anti-virus professionals.

While the calling card may have won the programmer points for creativity, the anti-virus community was not impressed.

"It's hard to tell if the creators of these new versions of the MyDoom worm are being serious, but there is no way that anybody in the anti-virus industry would touch them with a barge pole," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos.

The latest MyDoom infections pack some power.

Spread via e-mail, MyDoom-U and MyDoom-V contain a file attachment that, when downloaded, infects a computer with a malicious "back door" that blocks access to most anti-virus Web sites and turns the computer into a spamming machine, sending out junk e-mails.

Sophos reported the latest MyDoom variants are not spreading rapidly -- a bad sign for the would-be job seekers.

"It's not surprising," Cluley said. "Many times virus writers are just poor programmers."

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