Experts: Mydoom worm spreading faster than last year's Sobig-F [email servers being clogged]

Computer World ^ | JANUARY 26, 2004 | Paul Roberts

[dinasour]

I never get any of these email viruses.

I guess that means I am a nobody. Sigh.

[SeaDragon]

Heads up!

[Falcon4.0]

You and me both brother, I guess we don't have many friends after all. That or our Friends are smarter than the average moron.

[George from New England]

I'm coughing badly tonight, does that mean I caught something through Free Republic?

[Bean Counter]

Grut! You are SO right about MailWasher! I downloaded it yesterday, and the volume of spam has just evaporated.

Good on ya for passing this one on!!!!

[woofer]

...if you don't want to take the 5 minutes or so a week to maintain it, then don't bother having one.

What if I made that same statement, but instead of "computer" I inserted "car".

How often do you change the oil in your car?
Oil Filter?
Transmission Fluid and filter?
Flush the radiator?

Well, any way, some people aren't as computer and network savvy as others. They should be instructed in a calm manner, not screamed at.

[wimpycat]

I got a "test" e-mail today, too, but it was on my work e-mail system that I logged in to from home (we've been iced in for 2 days now.) I didn't open the attachment. I think I'll go back in there now and delete the whole e-mail.

As soon as I heard about this new 'mydoom' virus yesterday, I updated my anti-virus definitions.

[dinasour]

That or our Friends are smarter than the average moron

Actually, I think that is it.

[dinasour]

I'm coughing badly tonight, does that mean I caught something through Free Republic?

Probably not, but the bug that's been going around is a doozy. Take care.

[GreatOne]

How does Norton's Anti-Virus stack up to the other anti-virus software you mentioned? It seems to be working pretty well, and Ive gotten updates from them the last couple of days, presumably to prevent against this.

[jetson]

oink

[GreatOne]

Why is a ".pif" file bad? Or is it? Will Norton's Anti-Virus pick it up?

[New Horizon]

I never get any of these email viruses. I guess that means I am a nobody. Sigh.

In a strange way, I almost feel sorry for you. It makes me want to put you in my email contacts and get infected just to make you feel a little better.

Whaddya say?

[George from New England]

A .pif file is an old DOS configuration file.

It is an executable file.

Along with .scr and .bat files

[New Horizon]

Why is a ".pif" file bad? Or is it? Will Norton's Anti-Virus pick it up?

A ".pif" file is a Windows program information file and can essentially be used to call up an executable ".exe" file that can do bad things to your computer.

Outlook blocks ".exe" and ".pif" attached files by default, nowadays, so folks don't just click on an executable or pif to load a virus, trojan, etc.

[budman_2001]

SCO Offers Cash Reward to Find MyDoom Author

Check also the related items list on the upper right.

"The SCO Group Inc. isn't taking the upcoming distributed denial-of-service attacks from the MyDoom worm lying down. The company on Tuesday offered a reward of as much as $250,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the individual or individuals responsible for creating MyDoom."

[GreatOne]

When I did a computer search, it showed that I had a .pif file as a dos, as you said. I assume from what you're saying that this is okay - I don't have a worm/virus, correct?

[New Horizon]

I don't have a worm/virus, correct?

Probably not. A pif file is really a legitimate Windows file - they are used to tell Windows how to run programs that were written for an older DOS enviroment.

The scumbag virus writers began to use pif files after directly attached executable files weren't working well anymore for a couple of reasons; public awareness that launching executable email attachments was not a good idea, and because email clients were being configured to not even allow access to attached executable files.

[GreatOne]

Thank you very much. Isn't it possible for someone to create a computer system that is immune to a virus or a worm? When I was in California this past fall, I heard on a radio show that a woman was suing Microsoft for rushing the XP program before it was properly "safe" (whatever that means) from virus' and worms. I would think that with all of the hackers and virus creators out there, they'd be able to create such a program.

[lelio]

How often do you change the oil in your car?

The people down at the local garage do a much better (and cleaner) job than I can do. There's a line of PEMCO commercials out preaching "responsibility is a full tank of gas" etc. The AV software people should have a similiar campaign.

Another way to make this stop is to start fining people for any "destruction" (in quotes as its questionable) that having an unpatched machine can do in terms of bandwidth and headaches for IT staff. Once a couple of people get fined hopefully a lot more will jump on the bandwagon and a) get some decent protective software and b) start to wise up that you shouldn't open any attachment that comes to you.