Lara Croft virus busts IRC

Security experts have warned internet surfers to be on the look out for a 'Lara Croft' virus that emerged into the wild today. The worm is the first malicious virus hosted and spread by Windows Desktop Theme files.

The threat is not deemed serious as the LaraCroft.theme host file can only be spread via Internet Relay Chat (IRC).

Specialists at antivirus firm Kaspersky Labs said that, rather than producing a highly infectious worm, the virus writers have relied on social engineering to tempt surfers to open a file named after the popular Tomb Raider star.

"We classify Lara most likely as being a proof-of-concept malicious code. The ease with which it is detected and deleted, coupled with the relatively low popularity of the IRC-channels, means that there is no possibility of a global epidemic happening," said Eugene Kaspersky, head of antivirus research at Kaspersky Labs.

If a user executes the infected file, Lara modifies the system mIRC client and copies itself to all users connected to the same IRC channel. The malicious worm contains no other payload.