Less than a week after sounding the warning bell regarding a barrage of threats coming through public Instant Messaging (IM) clients, Akonix Security Center said it has discovered another bug.

The latest IM spyware worm, named Chode-D, is moving rapidly over leading public IM networks, the security center said. The worm has been classified as a "medium risk."

It also has backdoor functionality to send e-mails, download updates, participate in denial-of-service attacks, steal passwords, disable anti-virus products, and modify a system's HOSTS file.