Four new e-mail worms have been squirming their way into students' inboxes since last week.
The viruses -- Beagle, Dumaru.z, Dumaru.y and MyDoom -- infect machines by mass mailing themselves to other users once the recipient has opened an attachment in an infected e-mail, said Shirley Payne, director of security and policy at ITC.
Three of the worms have consistent e-mail headers, making them easier to identify. But MyDoom is more problematic because it does not have a specific subject line, Payne said.
Possible e-mail subject lines for MyDoom include 'test,' 'hi' and 'hello.'
First-year College student Christen Wallace said she received three infected e-mails.
"The subject was 'hello,' and they were from U.Va addresses, but I did not know the people," Wallace said, adding that she did not open the attachments.
The source of the virus is unknown, Payne said.
"Viruses like this can come from anywhere. This is widespread all over the place, not just U.Va."
Payne said ITC became aware of the e-mail viruses when students called in to report the mass e-mailings.
"We had reports from students saying that they had received hundreds of messages," she said.
ITC is trying to adjust the high volume of mail in the e-mail system, which has been slowed down by the viruses, Payne said.
Students should not open any attachments from an unknown sender because hackers could then access the students' machines, she added.
"They are really dangerous because you can loose complete control over your computer and personal information," she said.
To prevent viruses from attacking students' machines, ITC has information on its Web site to educate students about proper computing.
"We make anti-virus programs available to the University community free of charge, and there is a lot of education on our Web site," Payne said.
While the viruses are potentially dangerous, Payne said virus detection software will prevent damage.
"The good news is that if people have updated their virus detection every day or two times a day, they are protected," Payne said.
First-year College student Lauren Bruce said she received six e-mails with a subject heading claiming to be from the administration.
"It said 'Your e-mail account is about to expire, so open this attachment to find out more,'" Bruce said. "It looked like it was from U.Va."
Payne said this type of e-mail is from a virus called MiMail that infected computers last August. Regardless of the e-mail's claim, she said students' e-mail accounts will not expire.
"The problem with viruses is that they never really die," Payne said.
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