San Fransisco (Reuters) - Computer security experts on Tuesday said they had found the first virus designed to attack Macromedia Shockwave Flash animation files, which are predomininantly used in Internet advertising and on glitzy Web sites.
The virus, dubbed SWF/LFM.926, is low risk because it must be downloaded manually and cannot spread itself to other computers over e-mail or through Web pages like many other viruses can, experts said.
A sample of the virus was sent to antivirus software vendor Sophos from a Hotmail e-mail account and is not spreading ""in the wild,"" said Craig Schmugar, virus research engineer at Network Associates Inc.
The virus affects Windows NT- and XP-based computers, but only those storing Shockwave Flash files, which can be movies, games and other animations, according to Schmugar. ""Most people aren"t going to have any Shockwave Flash files on their computer,"" he said. ""It"s very unlikely the virus will spread very far.""
When executed, the virus displays a message saying ""Loading Flash Movie"" and shows a number puzzle that people might try to solve, Schmugar said.