UBS warns Net banking customers of email virus

[Ian Brown]

By Reuters
Special to CNET News.com
September 21, 2000, 7:40 a.m. PT

ZURICH, Switzerland--Swiss financial group UBS today warned its clients of a
new email virus attack that could affect some customers of its electronic
banking services.

"It is a virus directly aimed at our UBS PIN (Personal Identification
Number) software. It seeks for the software on a PC and sends a mail back
with the secret PIN numbers," a bank representative said.

"It was detected by our technical services," she added. "We have no reports
of clients being affected. We issued a warning as soon as possible."

UBS PIN is a part of the software for electronic banking with UBS Pay, which
is used for electronic payments.

The new virus, like the "resume.txt" virus of mid-August, is spread using
the Microsoft Outlook email program and Microsoft Outlook Express. The email
does not carry any text but contains the subject header "Funny Story" or
"When did you die?" The virus is spread when an attachment is opened.

In August, UBS recommended that customers keep the PIN file on a separate
floppy disk and not on the hard disk. Now, it is advising clients not to use
the UBS PIN software at all. It said its electronic banking service meets
the highest security standards.

Story Copyright ©2000 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.

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