New virus definition update available for "Remote Explorer" Virus

A new virus has been discovered on December 17, 1998, called 'Remote Explorer'. Norton AntiVirus will detect and repair this virus as W32.RemoteExplorer.

There has been a lot of media coverage about this new virus, which affects Windows NT systems. Symantec AntiVirus Research Center believes that this virus is an isolated incident and has not affected any additional customers and is not a threat to the general public including corporations and home users at this time. Currently we do not have any reports that Remote Explorer has infected any of our customers including IBM AntiVirus and Intel LDVP users.

Symantec AntiVirus Research Center has quickly analyzed the virus in collaboration with IBM Watson Research Center and new virus definition updates are already available to protect yourself on all platforms.

This virus has been designed to spread through the network to other Windows NT systems. In order for it to automatically spread to other Windows NT systems, the virus will need to be introduced into an Administrator's account using the necessary privileges. Also note that this virus cannot automatically pass through properly configured corporate firewalls.

Additional Information

Detailed information about the Remote Explorer virus

If you are a Norton AntiVirus user, you can obtain new definition updates to detect and repair the infected files including repairing the files which the virus has encrypted by using the exclusive LiveUpdate feature or by download the Intelligent Updater package from the this link.

If you are a IBM AntiVirus user, you can obtain new definition updates from this link.

What to do if I am actively infected by this new virus?

If you wish to get more information about this virus, please continue to monitor this site as we will post any new information, as it becomes available.