Posted by Virus Bulletin on Jan 27, 2005
Campaign group categorically denies responsibility
Campaign group Fathers 4 Justice has categorically denied any connection with a mass-mailing worm discovered this week which purports to support the campaign and places links to the group's website on the recipient's desktop.
The .A and .B variants of W32/Mirsa each attempt to drop a section of text onto the recipient's hard drive. The text differs between variants but in both cases indicates the virus writer's support for Fathers 4 Justice. The .B variant also creates a link to the Fathers 4 Justice website, which it places on the desktop.
Fathers 4 Justice campaigns for a child's right to see both parents and grandparents. The group has adopted a twin strategy based around publicity and press. Its recent high-profile publicity stunts have included throwing purple powder at Prime Minister Tony Blair in the House of Commons and scaling public buildings such as Buckingham Palace dressed as superheroes.
Despite following 18th century philosopher Jeremy Bentham's belief that 'Publicity is the very soul of justice', the group said the virus was 'not in our style' and not connected to the organisation.
Fathers 4 Justice activist Andrew Neil told The Register 'This is nothing to do with us, and we're upset our name has been misused in this way. It's not a style of message we would use.'
One has to wonder whether the perpetrator(s) of this virus will find they have done the campaign more harm than good.
- W32.Mirsa.A@mm (Symantec)
- W32/Mirsa (McAfee)
- W32/Mirsa-B@mm (Sophos)
Posted on 27 January 2005 by Virus Bulletin
