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Harry Potter and the worm of doom

A leading antivirus company warned Thursday that the Netsky worm was making a comeback on the coattails of fictional wizard Harry Potter.

British software and services company Sophos reported that infections by the three-month-old "P" variant of Netsky have risen dramatically over the past week, thanks to the worm's ability to disguise itself as a Harry Potter game or book. The heavily promoted movie "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" opened earlier this week in Britain and premiers Friday in North America.

"Netsky-P targets young computer users by sometimes posing as content connected with the Harry Potter books and movie franchise," Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos, said in a statement. "Parents need to educate their children against the threats of viruses, to ensure the popularity of Potter doesn't cast a nasty spell on their computer systems."

News source: C|Net News.com

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