A new computer virus named Bugbear has prompted Northwestern Information Technology to urge students to update their virus software.

So far, NU’s computers are staying clean, said Tom Board, director of technology support services.

Bugbear has heavily hit Europe and Asia, and is spreading through the United States faster than spring’s Klez. Bugbear clogs inboxes, bogs down networks and can compromise the security of computer systems.

A worm virus, Bugbear spreads through e-mail by searching a recipient’s computer for e-mail addresses. It then is automatically forwarded as an attachment to every address it finds.

Bugbear also can spread through any shared drives on networks.

“It doesn’t appear to be a malicious virus,” said Board, who has been reading up on the virus. “It’s basically a chain letter, using a standard approach of looking through the address book. It also attempts to de-activate a computer’s anti-virus system.”

But Bugbear can have more serious consequences, such as opening a “back door” so someone can remotely access the computer or monitoring a user’s keystrokes — allowing hackers to learn passwords or credit card numbers.

The virus causes some computers to print hundreds of pages of garbled junk — a side effect of sloppy programming, experts say.

Board said NUIT first learned of the virus Sept. 30, when it appeared in Europe and Asia. Since then, NUIT has updated its Get Control Web site to inform students of what to do about the virus.

Users of NU’s recommended anti-virus software, Norton anti-virus, should run LiveUpdate and then a full-system scan, deleting any files that come up as W32.Bugbear@mm, Board said.

“The message for everybody is to keep your virus definitions updated and don’t click on attachments unless you’re really, really sure of where (they) came from,” Board said.

Students are becoming concerned about the virus, remembering the problems the virus Klez caused last year when it spread heavily, clogging inboxes and backing up servers, said Noah Levin, a residential networking consultant in Willard Residential College.

Levin said no students have come to him because their machines have Bugbear, but plenty are trying to update their virus definitions as a preventative measure.

“A lot of people are flipping out,” said Levin, a McCormick freshman. “It strikes a chord, since they know what to expect from Klez.”