WebProNews

A variant of the MyDoom worm has been using search engines to propagate itself by harvesting email addresses found in various search results pages.

Once the emails are acquired, the malicious program mails copies of itself to the captured addresses.

This is not the first Doom variant to affect search engines either. Last July, Google was temporarily disrupted by an attack using similar methods.

According to Sophos.com, the new variant has been repacked in a possible attempt to thwart anti-virus measures.

"Right now, we're not seeing anything like as many reports of this new version of the MyDoom-O virus as we did last July - but it is spreading in the wild," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos. "Unlike last year, we don't expect to see Google whacked by this worm. Computer users who have kept their anti-virus automatically up-to-date and are wary of opening unsolicited email attachments should have little to fear."

MyDoom is not restricted to using Google either. The worm is capable of using other search engines like Lycos, Yahoo, MSN, and Ask.

Chris Richardson is a search engine writer and editor for WebProNews. Visit WebProNews for the latest search news.