Potential Computer Virus, To Watch Out For!

[Diane4145]

From all indications, this to be taken very seriously! Better to be safe, right? I can't be certain that this is for real, but forwarned is forarmed!

Diane



Subject: PLEASE FORWARD THIS COMPUTER WARNING!








Be alert during the next few days: Do NOT open any message with an

attached file called "Invitation", regardless of who sent it. It's a

virus that opens an Olympic Torch that "burns" the whole hard disk of

your computer. This virus will come from someone who has your e-mail

address; that's why you should send this e-mail to all your contacts.

It's better to receive this message 25 times than to receive the virus



DO NOT open it and shut down your computer immediately This is the
worst

virus announced by CNN, it's been classified by Microsoft as the most

destructive virus ever. The virus was discovered by McAfee yesterday,

and there's no repair yet for this particular virus. It simply
destroys

the Zero Sector of the Hard Disk, where vital information is kept.



Also:- Emails with pictures of Osama Bin-Laden hanged are being sent
and

the moment you open these emails your computer will crash and you will

not be able to fix it! This e-mail is being distributed through

countries around the globe, but mainly in the US and Israel. Don't be

inconsiderate; send this warning to whomever you know. If you get an

email along the lines of "Osama Bin Laden Captured" or "Osama Hanged",

don't open the attachment.

 

[Cil]

Snopes says this is real, but outdated

 

[Beach Runner]

This was on the front page of the Atlanta paper today. I can't post it as a link because it requires being a member of ajc.com. I've edited out much of it to shorten it.

Net vandals tap into instant messaging
Bob Keefe - Cox Washington Bureau
Saturday, June 10, 2006

Last month, the number of instant messages containing computer "malware" soared by 500 percent from the previous month, according to one Internet security company. In the first quarter of 2006, the number was up more than 160 percent from a year earlier.


"This is the next big thing coming," said Lisa Watts, computer network manager at the Nashville law firm Boult, Cummings, Conners & Berry. Watts is so concerned about IM security issues that she said she never uses IM herself. Other companies are taking more drastic steps. Advanced Micro Devices Inc., the semiconductor company that does much of its manufacturing in Austin, Texas, prohibits employees from using public IM services because of potential security problems. Atlanta-based Equifax also prohibits outside IM programs.

In typical IM attacks, hackers send out e-mail or IM programs designed to find and steal computer users' "buddy lists."

Using automated computers, the hackers then will send unsolicited instant messages to everybody on that person's list, masquerading as the person and luring recipients to check out a fake Web site.

If an unsuspecting user clicks on the link, they might download more malware that could turn their computers into automated spam-spewing "bots" or secretly install "spyware" that logs their keystrokes to determine online passwords.

Simultaneously, the hackers' program searches the newly infected computer for its own buddy list, and uses it to spread the infection. Some IM worms are especially nefarious. A recent worm called "CrazyFrog" that targeted MSN Messenger users, for example, was designed specifically to steal users' bank account information.

 

[Cil]

IM worms have been around for awhile. They try to make it look like a real person who wants to chat. The thing to remember is don't reply to anyone you don't know--and certainly don't click on anything. Those worms are insidious.

I only use Yahoo IMing from time to time, but I do keep Googlechat open often because it's an inexpensive way to talk to my kid in France.

Not long ago, I did have a stranger IM me (on Yahoo) then send an email to my Yahoo address. I deleted both without opening them up, and blocked the sender.

 

[Beach Runner]

IM worms have been around for awhile. They try to make it look like a real person who wants to chat. The thing to remember is don't reply to anyone you don't know--and certainly don't click on anything. Those worms are insidious.

I only use Yahoo IMing from time to time, but I do keep Googlechat open often because it's an inexpensive way to talk to my kid in France.

Not long ago, I did have a stranger IM me (on Yahoo) then send an email to my Yahoo address. I deleted both without opening them up, and blocked the sender.

I've *never* had that experience with any of the public IM services, and our IT person has never warned us about this, so this was news to me. I've experienced this many, many times with email, but not when IM'ing.

BTW I'm a computer person, but have no expertise in this area; I specialize in the theory of computer science. Kinda like when my husband told his cardiologist about a problem he was having with his back. The cardiologist said, "You ought to see a doctor about that."

The scary thing is that when I was working on my masters degree in computer science, our professor showed us how to write a program that would shut down the mainframe that served the university system and all agencies of state government. Today he (and we) would be arrested for trying that. Back then it seemed sort of cool to be able to do that; now we know that it's downright criminal.

Yes, my daughter prefers IM'ing me to other forms of correspondence, and it's definitely cheaper than long distance or using cell phone minutes. It isn't as much of a commitment as a phone conversation because one can multitask while IM'ing (I can't - I type too slowly) and answer IM's whenever one gets around to it. What really used to make me furious when she was far away at MIT and with IM's as our primary means of communication was when she'd say "brb," I'd wait forever (didn't want to miss a chance to talk to her), and she'd never get back to me.

 

[Cil]

Hey guys
This is for real:

Security experts are warning of a new e-mail worm that takes advantage of a flaw in Yahoo's Web mail system to redirect users to advertising sites and to spread the worm to everyone in the victim's e-mail address book.

According to an advisory issued by Symantec, "JS.Yamanner" exploits an unpatched Javascript vulnerability that kicks in when the user opens an e-mail infected by the worm. Unlike most e-mail-based worms -- which launch when the recipient clicks on an infected file attachment -- this one spreads merely by getting the user to open the e-mail.

There may well be different versions of this bugger going around, but the one being tracked at the moment has "av@yahoo.com" in the sender field, with the subject "New Graphic site." Symantec said users of Yahoo Mail Beta do not appear to be vulnerable to the worm.

Yahoo has placed a temporary fix for now but users still need to be aware.

Be careful out there.