Google Says Sorry For Virus E-Mail Blast

Google sent out about 50,000 e-mails with the Kama Sutra worm this week.

Google announced that a member of its video team had sent the worm, W32/Kasper.A@mm, to members of a Google Video Blog discussion list. The worm wipes out files.

"On Tuesday evening, three posts were made to the Google Video Blog-group that should not have been posted," the company announced through a written statement. "This has now been addressed and fixed. Still, some of these posts may have contained a virus called W32/Kapser.A@mm--a mass mailing worm. If you think you have downloaded this virus from the group or an email message, we recommend you run your antivirus program to remove it."

The company linked to free Norton AntiVirus software from the Google pack, apologized for the gaffe, and promised to take action to prevent similar mistakes in the future.

The company declined to explain how the link was posted. Last month, hackers posted a fake entry on the company's blog.