One of two new e-mail-based worm viruses, Badass, has begun spreading across the Internet. The virus, which originated in Holland, does not damage files, but does create large volumes of e-mail traffic and could cause network slowdowns. Fortunately, Badass' bark is far worse than its bite, and the cure is relatively simple. Virus experts have deduced that this worm which likely originated in a bank in the Netherlands is a rather inelegant kluge of the codes of the Melissa and Win.Stupid virii.
A worm is so named because it roots into your system and then makes copies of itself, in effect, perpetuating its existence. Internet worms are particularly pernicious, because they use a host computer to make copies, and then take advantage of the host computers Internet connection to send copies of themselves to other computers.
