May 12 — A new, complex computer virus dubbed “Fizzer” has infected computers worldwide and is gaining momentum, antivirus researchers said Monday. Fizzer was actually discovered last week, and was initially deemed not a serious threat. However, by early Monday, it had spread to computers worldwide, with one antivirus firm saying it had trapped some 30,000 copies of Fizzer. Several security companies issued an alert and raised their risk rating on the worm. Still, a widespread outbreak is not anticipated.
“IT WAS NOT especially strong out of the gate,” said Craig Schmugar, virus researcher with Network Associates Inc. “But in terms of a percentage of increase, on Monday we had 700 percent increase in incidents over the end of last week.”
British-based antivirus firm MessageLabs indicated on its Web site that its software had intercepted over 30,000 copies of the worm destined for its customers...