9/11-themed viruses hit the Net

[NekoChris]

This is my first ever 'Latest Breaking News' post, so be gentle. ;_;

I just saw this while checking on the Arafat situation.

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9/11-themed viruses hit the Net

LONDON, Sept. 11 — Internet virus writers marked the two-year anniversary of the September 11 attacks in their own inimitable style, releasing Internet contagions that prey on people’s sentimentality and fears.


(cut cut cut)

“Neroma” carries the subject line “It’s Near 911!.” It contains a file attachment labeled “911.jpg” with the description “Nice butt baby!.”
It is programmed to delete computer files on infected PCs and scan its Microsoft Outlook Express e-mail address book in search of more e-mail victims to sniff out.

“Vote.K,” a new variation of a virus that first appeared shortly after the September 11 attacks, arrives in e-mail inboxes with the message “THE WAR HAS STARTED!,” according to Finnish security firm F-Secure Corp.
It too threatens to delete files and carries a message “WORLD TRADE CENTER/WE WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER THOSE LOST SOULS.”
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Apparently they're not super dangerous, just more of the usual. Just a heads-up on something NEW to look for. Whee fun, sup virii.

Edit: Link fixed yo, my bad. ^_^ Thanks for the poke about it.

[spinbaby]

1. Pssst...

Link doesn't work.

[Don_G]

3. Try This

http://www.msnbc.com/news/965089.asp?0dm=C11LT

[sybylla]

2. Link not working AND

not to be a hard ass, but I would question its veracity as .jpg files are data files, not executable files which are necessary to run a program that would do what you stated.

Step one to prevent this, stop using Outlook for your e-mail

On Edit: that explains it, MSNBC. You'd think they would have access to the techies who could help them write accurate articles. Sheesh!

[htuttle]

5. Regarding the .jpg issue

Typically, the viruses are sent with a filename like: "My_Picture.jpg.exe"

The .exe part often gets hidden by Outlook/Exchange, so the filename appears to be "My_Picture.jpg"

[sybylla]

7. I assumed it was double extensions

Never used Outlook so this explains alot. And that MSNBC was carelessly Outlook-centric when they wrote the article. They should be more careful, after all, they might loose credibility or something.

Thanks, htuttle.

[htuttle]

4. And just in the nick of time, another M$ security hole

I posted this in GD, since it was a day old, but apparently the patch that was supposed to fix the MSBlaster hole missed a bunch of things:
Surprise! More Flaws in Windows

WASHINGTON -- Moments before a top Microsoft executive told Congress about efforts to improve security, the company warned on Wednesday of new flaws that leave its flagship Windows software vulnerable to Internet attacks similar to the Blaster virus that infected hundreds of millions of computers last month.

(snip)

Outside experts said some flaws were nearly identical to problems exploited by the Blaster worm, which spread last month with devastating damage. Computer users who applied an earlier patch in July to protect themselves still must install the new patch from Microsoft.

"They're as close as you can be without being the same," said Marc Maiffret, an executive at eEye Digital Security of Aliso Viejo, California, one of three research groups credited with discovering some of the new problems. "It's definitely a big oversight on Microsoft's part that they missed these."

(more at link)
http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,60393,00.html

M$-free for a decade and luvin' it!

[tweekinnow]

6. Got Bugs? GOTO:

http://securityresponse.symantec.com/

Also, MICROSOFT just issued (today) a new security alert for "N" platform operating systems. So update Your XP security patch asap.