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Japan reports 'swine flu computer virus'

(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-05-01 08:44

TOKYO -- Japan has reported no human case of the deadly swine flu so far, but a computer virus of the same name has been spreading on the Internet in recent days, authorities warned yesterday.

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Japan's National Institute of Infectious Diseases (NIID) said on its website that a suspicious Japanese-language email message with an attached file called "information on swine flu" has been circulating in cyberspace.

"The institute has received reports that the email message falsely identifying itself as coming from the NIID is circulating," it said.

"The email is carrying a file titled 'information on swine flu', which has been recognized as an illegal program by the institute's virus-checking software," the NIID statement said.

The institute did not say what kind of malware was hidden inside the file or what harm it might do.

The email, originating from senders in the "@yahoo.co.jp" domain, seemed to be sent to random Internet users, the institute said.

"It is obviously a suspicious message falsely identifying itself," it said.

AFP