Beware! New virus on the loose August 16, 2005 16:46 IST Network anti-virus and Internet content security major, Trend Micro on Tuesday warned Internet users of a new memory-resident worm that takes advantage of newly announced Microsoft Plug-and-Play security flaw. What makes the new worm, WORM_ZOTOB, so notable is its exploit of Microsoft security hole and this 'exploitation' is believed to be the fastest in the history of malware creation, a statement said. The new worm drops a copy of itself into the Windows system folder as Botzor.exe and it modifies system's Host files in the infected users' computer so as to prevent the user from getting online assistance from certain anti-virus Web sites. The backdoor capabilities of the worm enable it to connect to a specific Internet Relay Chat (IRC) servicer and allow hacker a remote control over affected system, which can be used to infect other machines in the network. Hundreds of 'infection reports' were sighted in US and Germany. "Since most of the users may not be aware of the newly announced security hole so as to install the necessary patch during last weekend, more infections in Asia Pacific and other regions are foreseen, it said.