A computer virus dubbed Bagle has been making its way into ASU student and staff inboxes in the form of e-mail from University system administrators.
The e-mail states that the recipient's account has been flagged for heavy virus activity and will be deactivated unless an attachment is downloaded. Once the attached file is transferred to the user's computer, the virus infects it.
ASU Information Technology administrators have sent no such e-mails, and if received, the messages should be deleted immediately, a tech support official said.
"This virus is nothing more than a pain in the neck," said Rebecca Viles, an ASU tech support analyst. "It doesn't do major damage, but it does enough for students to be cautious of it."
Viles said ASU uses an advanced virus scanner that filters out most infected files before they can even reach their intended destination. Still, one or two major viruses per month tend to get past the checkpoints and enter ASU Web space.
"They're not getting more frequent; they're just getting smarter," she added. "Recently, we've had the Mydoom virus, the Blaster and a few others. Students really need to be aware of what they're doing online."
IT administrators encountered another virus with the same name in January and claimed to have eliminated it from ASU Web space. It is unclear as to whether the two strains are related.
The e-mail travels across ASU Web space by opening infected computer address books and then resending itself through the user's e-mail account.
Viles said students and faculty must be extremely cautious with emails and attachments from unknown sources.
"It's not difficult to make it seem like a message is from ASU administrators," she said. "If students or faculty get a suspicious e-mail, even from someone they know, just delete it.
"Being educated on what is going on is the best way to combat these viruses," Viles added.
Justice studies junior Dayton Dunphy said he received a notice about the Bagle virus, but he is always on the lookout for potential viruses.
"I've pretty much made a practice out of automatically deleting e-mails from people I don't know," he said. "You can't be too careful with all of that stuff floating around on the Web."
An IT investigation into the origin of the virus is underway.
Viles said if students believe their computers have been infected with a virus, they should download an antivirus program from the ASU IT Web site at www.asu.edu/it/.
Reach the reporter at jason.samuels@asu.edu.
