A new worm making the rounds of all the major Instant Messenging networks attempts to trick you into believing you’ve received a file from a friend. Click the file and you get a picture of Santa - plus a nasty little rootkit installed to your system that could give hackers control of your computer. As with email, you should not open any file attachment unless you are expecting it and know exactly what it is. If a friend sends a link or file by IM, message them back and ask what it is before you open it. If they say they didn’t send anything, it’s almost certainly a virus and should be deleted immediately. If they did send it, you should still scan it with an up to date antivirus program before opening.
The IM.GiftCom.All worm has made an appearance on several messaging networks, including America Online, Microsoft MSN, and Yahoo.
The worm attempts to dupe you into believing that a friend has sent you a link to a harmless file. If you click on the file, you see an image of Santa. While viewing it, the worm attempts to install a rootkit on your system.