A new virus just in time for Christmas is causing havoc on php bulletin boards across the internet.

Called Santy.A, the internet worm has tried to use Google to target servers running the popular PHP bulletin boards, similar to the one we run on our site (click here)

Google however, has since stepped into the breach, by blocking searches for the virus making any attempt to scan for vulnerable computers redundant.

Antivirus companies first detected the worm Tuesday and defaced sites it came across with the words: “This site is defaced!!! NeverEverNoSanity WebWorm."

According to some sources the Santy worm first appeared on 20 December and within 24 hours had successfully hit more than 40,000 websites, however the infection has decreased rapidly since its discovery.

The Santy.A virus is the first internet virus to use a popular search engine as part of its spreading mechanism

>> Google - Official website of Google