The author of Mydoom has been a busy little beaver releasing other viruses like Mydoom.L and Zindos.A. These viruses were created to allow the attacker to have remote, unauthorized access to an infected computer. The virus author can also update the viruses in the infected computers using them to help spread future viruses.

Mydoom.M is a mass-mailing virus that often pretends to be a bounced e-mail that will look like an unsendable e-mail that has been returned to you. If you get such an e-mail, DO NOT open the attachment.

Mydoom.M also queries various search engines including lycos, yahoo, altavista, and google to harvest additional e-mail addresses for possible distribution. This worm has spread very quickly and was able to overwhelm several of the search engine’s servers within the first day of its appearance.

As always, install a good anti-virus program and be sure you update it regularly. Don’t open any unexpected attachments. For more information on how to recognize and remove Mydoom.M visit the Symantec Resource Center.