The Mydoom variant that joined the original virus in raising havoc on the Internet this week contains a cryptic message in which the author appears to apologize for the malicious code, security experts said Friday.
The creator of what anti-virus experts say is the fastest spreading virus ever on the Internet signed Mydoom and Mydoom.B with "andy," and left the following message in the latter version: "I'm just doing my job, nothing personal, sorry."
"Our interpretation is that he's apologizing to the general public," Jimmy Kuo, research fellow for anti-virus software maker Network Associates Technology Inc., said. "Our guess is that someone is paying him to write this thing."
Both Mydoom versions install a "backdoor" in infected PCs, enabling hackers to commandeer the machines to send spam, launch denial of service attacks or perform other nefarious acts.
Some experts, however, doubted the sincerity of the apology. Many virus writers leave cryptic messages in their code to tease investigating authorities and to pat themselves on the back for their handiwork.
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