Grew/Nyxem/Blackmal Worm File Deletion on Feb. 3

Antivirus companies warn users about the dangerous payload of the Grew/Nyxem/Blackmal worm. On February 3, 2006 and on the 3rd month thereafter, or 30 minutes after the computer has been restarted, it is scheduled to delete and overwrite common document files (.DOC, .XLS, .PPT, .ZIP and others) with the string “DATA Error [47 0F 94 93 F4 K5]”.

Also, it disables the mouse and the keyboard, deletes files and registry entries of antivirus products, and closes AV windows so that users can’t use them.

Trend Micro’s description for this worm is here.

Best bet: update your AV product then perform a full scan on all of your hard drives. Back up your important or sensitive documents.