Virus name:   Beagle.J (aka Bagle.J)

Status:   Real.

Example:   [Collected on the Internet, 2004]

Dear user of Snopes.com, We warn you about some attacks on your e-mail account. Your computer may contain viruses, in order to keep your computer and e-mail account safe, please, follow the instructions. Please, read the attach for further details. Have a good day,       The Snopes.com team                 http://www.snopes.com

Origins:   Beagle.J is a variant of the Beagle mass-mailing worm that affects only Microsoft NT or Windows-based systems. It replicates itself by sending out spoofed messages (like the example quoted above) which appear to be coming from an administrative address at the recipient's domain. For example, an AOL user might receive a Beagle-infected message bearing a return address from any of the following:

• management@aol.com
• administration@aol.com
• staff@aol.com
• noreply@aol.com
• support@aol.com

The message itself is assembled from a variety of phrases and sentences. The subject line of a Beagle-infected message can be any one of the following:

• E-mail account disabling warning.
• E-mail account security warning.
• Email account utilization warning.
• Important notify about your e-mail account.
• Notify about using the e-mail account.
• Notify about your e-mail account utilization.
• Warning about your e-mail account.

The introductory line of the message can be any of the following, customized with the recipient's domain name (we use 'aol.com' as an example of a domain name throughout these listings):

• Dear user of aol.com,
• Dear user of aol.com gateway e-mail server,
• Dear user of e-mail server "aol.com",
• Hello user of aol.com e-mail server,
• Dear user of "aol.com" mailing system,
• Dear user, the management of aol.com mailing system wants to let you know that,

The first paragraph of the message can be any one of the following:

• Your e-mail account has been temporary disabled because of unauthorized access.
• Our main mailing server will be temporary unavaible for next two days, to continue receiving mail in these days you have to configure our free auto-forwarding service.
• Your e-mail account will be disabled because of improper using in next three days, if you are still wishing to use it, please, resign your account information.
• We warn you about some attacks on your e-mail account. Your computer may contain viruses, in order to keep your computer and e-mail account safe, please, follow the instructions.
• Our antivirus software has detected a large ammount of viruses outgoing from your email account, you may use our free anti-virus tool to clean up your computer software.
• Some of our clients complained about the spam (negative e-mail content) outgoing from your e-mail account. Probably, you have been infected by a proxy-relay trojan server. In order to keep your computer safe, follow the instructions.

The concluding line of the message can be any one of the following:

• For more information see the attached file.
• Further details can be obtained from attached file.
• Advanced details can be found in attached file.
• For details see the attach.
• For details see the attached file.
• For further details see the attach.
• Please, read the attach for further details.
• Pay attention on attached file.

The message can be signed off with any of the following lines:

• The Management,
• Sincerely,
• Best wishes,
• Have a good day,
• Cheers,
• Kind regards,

The message will include a copy of the Beagle worm in a .zip or .pif attachment bearing one of the following filenames:

• Attach
• Information
• Readme
• Document
• Info
• TextDocument
• TextFile
• MoreInfo
• Message

Symantec's web site offers a removal tool for all variants of the Beagle worm.

Additional Information:

	W32.Beagle.J@mm (Symantec)
	W32/Bagle.j@MM (McAfee)
	WORM_BAGLE.J (Trend Micro)

Last updated:   27 January 2008

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