A new worm, dubbed 'Bizex', is attempting to steal financial information from users of the popular ICQ internet instant messaging system.

The worm sends out messages via ICQ from infected PCs to entice people to visit a website that launches an attack on their PC.

Antivirus firm Kaspersky Labs warned that the worm attempts to harvest financial data stored on computers, and invites all the contacts it finds in the ICQ contact list to visit the website.

"We see this as a bare-faced attempt to make money," said Eugene Kaspersky, head of antivirus research at Kaspersky Labs, in a statement.

"The new method of penetration, the fact that ICQ has not been used for such an attack before, and the wide range of spy functions - this combination is sure to reap huge profits for the author of Bizex."

The worm only attacks original ICQ programs (with the exception of Web ICQ). Alternative instant messaging systems, such as Miranda and Trillian, are immune.

A more detailed description about this malicious program can be found here.