An email worm with the subject lines “230 dead as storm batters Europe,” “U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza,” and “A killer at 11, he’s free at 21”  has spread rapidly across Europe yesterday and today.

Storm Worm is a Trojan horse with an executable file as an attachment. Cybercriminals took advantage of social engineering, using the news of the European storm to get people to open the attached malicious file, which promises more news on the weather emergency. The recipient must open the file for it to execute.

The file creates a back door to a computer that can be exploited later to steal data or to use the computer to post spam.