Antivirus companies are warning Internet users about a fast-spreading new worm that infects Web servers running a popular package of online bulletin board software, and uses the Google search engine to find vulnerable servers to infect.
The worm, dubbed Santy.A, uses a vulnerability in a popular free software package called phpBB to spread across the Internet, infecting computer servers that host online bulletin boards and defacing those sites with the words “This site is defaced!!! NeverEverNoSanity WebWorm.”
A Google Inc. spokesman said in an e-mail the company was looking into reports about Santy.A.
The worm does not affect individual computer users, but infects Web servers that are hosting online bulletin boards. Santy.A was first spotted early Tuesday morning, Eastern Standard Time in the United States, according to Mikko Hypp
