The first virus affecting StarOffice was detected Tuesday, but so far it isn’t being used to infect computers.Since the virus has not been launched with malicious intent yet, a teenager hacker may have written it, said Roel Schouwenberg, senior research engineer for Kaspersky Lab. The virus uses macros to attack the office suite from Sun Microsystems.Kaspersky is calling the virus “Stardust.” Viruses using macros are rarely seen anymore since simply shutting off a program’s macro feature stops them, Schouwenberg said. Macros can be used to automate certain tasks within a document, such as a repeated calculations on a spreadsheet.Macro viruses were most often written to disrupt Microsoft office applications, Kaspersky wrote on its virus blog. Typically, a virus using macros infects a template, which is then read when opening other documents and infects those also, Schouwenberg said. The Stardust virus is contained in a StarOffice document that uses macros and then infects a global template. If a user opens a document infected with Stardust, every StarOffice text document with a “.sxw” extension, or document template with a “.stw” extension, will be infected, Schouwenberg said. When one of those documents is launched, it opens an adult image hosted on a tripod.com server, a website hosting service from Lycos.So far, the bug does not pose a risk since it remains a proof-of-concept virus, a term meaning the virus was written to prove it could be done, but is not yet being used maliciously.“We’re not hyping it,” Schouwenberg said. “The world is not coming to an end. It’s just a [proof-of-concept].”But with a little tweaking, Schouwenberg said the code, which uses an old application programming interface, could be modified to affect OpenOffice 2.0, an open-source suite.-Jeremy Kirk, IDG News Service For related news coverage, read Password-Stealing Trojan Arrives in German Spam. Check out our CIO News Alerts and Tech Informer pages for more updated news coverage. Related content news Zendesk to lay off another 8% of its staff, cites macroeconomic issues The new tranche of layoffs comes just six months after the company let go of 300 staffers and hired a new CEO in order to navigate its operations through macroeconomic distress. By Anirban Ghoshal Jun 01, 2023 3 mins CRM Systems IT Jobs feature 5 CxOs on leading change To be the agents of change that businesses require today, IT leaders must embrace a flexible mindset, prep their orgs for change, and recognize that intention and purpose are vital to empowering transformation. By Dan Roberts Jun 01, 2023 13 mins Digital Transformation Change Management IT Leadership feature Top 8 data engineer and data architect certifications Data engineers and data architects are in high demand. Here are the certifications that will give your career an edge. By Thor Olavsrud Jun 01, 2023 9 mins Certifications Big Data Data Mining events promotion Australia's CIO50 Team of the Year Awards finalists revealed Along with the unveiling of the annual CIO50 List and the team category winners, the 2023 CIO50 Awards will also recognise the inaugural Next CIO winner and a new Hall of Fame recipient. By Cathy O'Sullivan May 31, 2023 3 mins IDG Events Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe