It's quite possible that neither of them has even seen the email that looked like it came from them. This virus goes through people's email addressbooks, makes up an email and sends it out - all by itself, with the virus attached.
Here's more info on this:
Viruses come "just because". No one you know is sending out these viruses. The virus does it all. It is sent to people in an address book. If only 1 of the people in that address opens is, it will send itself to all of the people in that person's address book. If only 1...
Think what will happen if 2 people open that mail. It spreads like wildfire. If you're in the address book of someone who opens this program you will get it at least once in your email.
These programs particularly like Microsoft Outlook.
So, it might appear that person X has sent along an email, but they're not even aware of it.
Something interesting with this - one of my email addresses sent a copy of the virus along to my PianoMary name. No way would I have sent myself a file like this!
Remember - never, ever download an exe or a zip file even from someone you know unless you're absolutely, positive that they sent you this file.
A good, up to date, virus scanner is a must, too.
From ZDNet, a computer/web oriented site. URL available on request.
The latest fast-spreading versions of the Klez worm have so far infected more than 7 percent of PCs worldwide, surpassing totals chalked up by previous threats such as SirCam and Nimda, according to a new survey by an antivirus company.
Panda Software scanned more than 2,000 PCs around the world and found that 7.2 percent had the H or I versions of the Klez worm, said Patrick Hinojosa, chief technical officer for the Glendale, Calif.-based company.
Considering that the H and I versions of Klez have been in the wild for only a few weeks, that's an alarmingly fast spread, said Hinojosa. "I was pretty surprised at the percentage," he said. "This thing started slowly, but it's proliferating at a tremendous rate now."
The Klez.h worm began spreading about two weeks ago and quickly became the top pest on the Internet. As of midday Monday, e-mail screening company MessageLabs had intercepted 16,700 copies of Klez.h in the past 24 hours, making it by far the busiest bug.
The Klez.i worm is a slight variation on Klez.h that also infects PCs with the Elkern.d virus, which antivirus company Trend Micro ranked as the most active virus Monday.
While neither of the Klez worms is particularly destructive, they pose a security threat by sharing files plucked from infected PCs as they spread.
Steve Trilling, director of antivirus software maker Symantec's security response team, said the Klez worm's use of its own e-mail engine and its unpredictable variation of e-mail subject lines helped the virus spread.
"Whenever we see these threats, it's always a combination of technical and human factors that they feed on," Trilling said. "The human factor is: Does it start inside a company that doesn't have good antivirus protection in place, so it can grab a number of e-mail addresses at the start?"
Hinojosa said Klez.h has also been effective in spreading confusion because it "spoofs" e-mail addresses as it propagates, making it look like an infected message came from a familiar address--one randomly grabbed from an Outlook address book. An infected message can look like it came from a legitimate source, and replies can accuse unaffected PCs of being infected.
"Just watching our traffic here, I've seen several messages supposedly from our tech support that were generated by Klez," Hinojosa said. "I think that contributed to people opening a lot of e-mails that they wouldn't otherwise open, because it looks like it's from somebody legitimate."
Recommendations include running updated antivirus software, making sure the proper security patches are installed for Microsoft Outlook and running a standalone virus checker, such as Symantec's downloadable Klez removal tool.
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1. Most of the worms which use e-mail to propagate use Microsoft Outlook or Outlook Express to spread. If you need to use Outlook, download and install the latest Outlook security patch from Microsoft. In general, keep your operating system and applications up-to-date and apply the latest patches when they become available. Be sure to get the updates directly from the vendor.
2. When possible, avoid e-mail attachments both when sending and receiving e-mail.
3. Configure Windows to always show file extensions. In Windows 2000, this is done through Explorer via the Tools menu: Tools/Folder Options/View - and uncheck "Hide file extensions for known file types". This makes it more difficult to for a harmful file (such as an EXE or VBS) to masquerade as a harmless file (such as TXT or JPG).
4. Never open e-mail attachments with the file extensions VBS, SHS or PIF. These extensions are almost never used in normal attachments but they are frequently used by viruses and worms.
5. Never open attachments with double file extensions such as NAME.BMP.EXE or NAME.TXT.VBS
6. Do not share your folders with other users unless necessary. If you do, make sure you do not share your full drive or your Windows directory.
7. Disconnect your network or modem cable when you're not using your computer - or just power it down.
8. If you feel that an e-mail you get from a friend is somehow strange - if it is in a foreign language or if it just says odd things, double-check with the friend before opening any attachments.
9. When you receive e-mail advertisements or other unsolicited e-mail, do not open attachments in them or follow web links quoted in them.
10. Avoid attachments with sexual filenames. E-mail worms often use attachments with names like PORNO.EXE or PAMELA_NUDE.VBS to lure users into executing them.
11. Do not trust the icons of attachment file. Worms often send executable files which have an icon resembling icons of picture, text or archive files - to fool the user.
12. Never accept attachments from strangers in online chat systems such as IRC, ICQ or AOL Instant Messenger.
13. Avoid downloading files from public newsgroups (Usenet news). These are often used by virus writers to distribute their new viruses.
I know very little about computers etc, but am learning! I have heard of people having everything wiped from their computers like that, and this is my big worry, mainly due to many mails from my friend who died, which are only stored on the computer,I should print them all off or something I guess.
