Sober.X Virus Spoofs CIA

A newly discovered Sober variant, dubbed Sober.X by some antivirus vendors, is using scare tactics to trick users into opening its infected attachment. The Sober.X worm pretends to be from the CIA and the body of the message warns:

we have logged your IP-address on more than 30 illegal WEbsites.
Important:
Please answer our questions!
The list of questions are attached.

The fictitious email tries to add an air of authenticity by adding the following signature:

Yours faithfully,
Steven Allison

++++ Central Intelligence Agency -CIA-
++++ Office of Public Affairs
++++ Washington, D.C. 20505

++++ phone: (703) 482-0623
++++ 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., US Eastern time

Thought the email is fake, the phone number actually does ring up the public affairs office. A recording is now in place that alerts callers to the fictitious nature of the email and reassures them that the CIA is not recording their website visits.

See Also:
• Sober.X Virus Description