Until October 2006, the P variant of this virus remained the most prevalent virus being sent in e-mail throughout the world, despite being over two and a half years old. Once opened, the attached program would scan the computer for e-mail addresses and e-mail itself to all addresses found. The worm was sent out as an e-mail, enticing recipients to open an attachment. Other symptoms of Netsky included beeping sounds on specified dates, usually in the morning hours. As of June 2004, Bagle had approximately 28, Netsky approximately 29, and MyDoom approximately 10.

The 'war' as it was referred to in the media caused a steady increase in the number of variant viruses produced in these families. 18-year-old Sven Jaschan of Germany confessed to having written these, and other worms, such as Sasser.Īlthough individual functions vary widely from virus to virus, the Netsky family perhaps is most famous for comments contained within the code of its variants insulting the authors of the Bagle and Mydoom worm families and, in some cases, routines that removed versions of these viruses. It appeared on Wednesday, February 18, 2004. The 'B' variant was the first family member to find its way into mass distribution. The first variant appeared on Monday, February 16, 2004. Netsky is a prolific family of computer worms which affect Microsoft Windows operating systems.

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