NEW YORK - In an apparent protest of the New York Department of Transportation's decision to not allow a sign over the Williamsburg Bridge reading "Leaving Brooklyn: Oy Vey!", a hacker has unleashed what is being called the Bagel Virus, hijacking scrolling banners all over the five boroughs.

"It's a simple ploy," said Harry Meese, of Symantec Research Labs, "and one that most users already know to avoid. But there are a few users out there naïve enough to help spread this thing." The virus arrives as an email bearing the subject, "A bagel for you, my little punim!" The body is blank, except for an attachment with a bagel icon. Clicking the icon directs the user to a Yiddish-themed greeting card site, but also installs a worm that starts the PC on a search for other computers controlling scrolling banners. When one is found in the New York area, the sign is commanded to display "ODOT? Oy Vey!"

"We rent space on our banner by the message, this is a disaster for us," said Arnie Swinkle. Swinkle owns and manages a convenience store. "We get 10% of our income from those ads. Nobody's paying for that!" he exclaimed, jerking his thumb toward his hijacked sign.

Banner sign companies are working together to bring the attack under control. "We are working hard to isolate the problem," said Mark Roscek, an engineer with DeSignErs, Inc. "It's a complicated problem, this guy knew exactly where to hit us."

ODOT spokesman Tom Cocola responded simply, "Are we laughing? Are we laughing? Fuhgeddaboudit."