E-mail Virus Wreaking Havoc Worldwide

Talon News ^ | June 17, 2004 | By Jimmy Moore

[scott7278]

I have it pretty good -- my ISP provides an offsite e-mail filter through an online e-mail security company. They make it optional to sign up, and best of all, it's free of charge.  Since I was being hassled with junk e-mail and viruses, I went ahead and tried it out.  Spam and virus-laden e-mails don't even make it to my e-mail server anymore, let alone my computer!

 

I also keep my computer's firewall and antivirus program updated daily, so a virus has to defeat both the off-site filter and the security protection I have on my computer.  It might cost my ISP a good deal of money, but I'm sure their servers run more effeciently since they don't have to process all the spam and viruses.

 

In the last 24 hours, Postini has processed 190,731,074 messages, of which 103,828,141 were invalid delivery attempts (54.4%).  That's incredible!  Maybe all ISP's should think about providing their customers with this type of service -- it costs money in the short term, but it also has huge payoffs.

[oldcomputerguy]

There should be a minimum 10 year sentence for anyone creating a virus.

The bigger question is why hasn't MSFT spent $2B of their $60B stash fixing the holes in their software?

Why are we having to install virus s/w at all, why isn't it incorporated into the operating system. Maybe the people in Redmond should start innovating!

[AppyPappy]

The virus sends those out. Ignore it.

[LilyBean]

My ISP also provides Postini. I signed up a few months ago when I was bombarded with the Netsky virus. It costs me a dollar a month more. Money well spent.

[scott7278]

I'd say a dollar a month is certainly worth it (I thought I was getting a good deal, when I was saving a buck a month -- LOL!).

[zeugma]

you blame the poor schlub who's computer go wrecked?

They should thank God that the virus makers aren't randomly wiping 64k chunks of data off their disks like one that was released a month or so ago.

Fortunately, I'm not succeptable to these attacks because I'm 100% micrsoft free at home. The email is a PITA to deal with, but my methods of dealing with spam get 95% of them.

[gcruse]

I simply do not open emails from people I have never heard of.

Since this virus uses email addresses of people you probably know, that won't work much longer.

[Blood of Tyrants]

Not most of the time. The current generation of viruses reads an address out of the infected computer's address book and selects on eat random to put in the "From" block. Rarely does it pick an address from someone I know.

[my_pointy_head_is_sharp]

Try mail2web. It's free, with no ads.

[supercat]

//We have a code number set up between us and our kids. If we're sending files to each other, we include that code in the Subject line. If we get email with attachments from our kids and that code isn't there we don't open it. Period. We write them back (a new message, not a Reply) and tell them and, if it's legit, they resend with the code in place.//

On the occasions I've had to exchange executables with clients, I've always PKZIP'ed them using the password option. While I wouldn't trust the password to be unbreakable, the odds of a virus sending a ZIP file encrypted with the right password seem pretty darned remote.

[steve86]

There should be a minimum 10 year sentence for anyone creating a virus.

The bigger question is why hasn't MSFT spent $2B of their $60B stash fixing the holes in their software?

If true justice were served Bill Gates would serve 10 years in jail for fraud and misrepresentation.

[steve86]

If true justice were served Bill Gates would serve 10 years in jail for fraud and misrepresentation.

I was just kidding, Bill.

[js1138]

I can help you with that, if you'd like - FReepmail me.

LOL. I've yet to see a machine that required wiping. The worst case I've encountered couldn't get to the internet after all the spyware was removed. This took a bit of head scratching, but I solved it by uninstalling and reinstalling the network card.

I do this kind of work for a living and keep AdAware and Spyware Blaster on my USB keychain drive. So far they've been sufficient when used in combination.

Worst case scenerio I reinstall Windows, but only in repair mode. When things are working pretty normally I run regcleaner and remove all traces of programs and registry entries that shouldn't be there. This requires little technical knowledge, since regcleaner identifies unused entries.

[GOPJ]

I agree. Blaming the victim is unsightly and gives criminals a pass.

Just who do you think I am enabling. The person who does nothing wrong and accidentally opens up a virus? Ok. I accept that.

You, on the other hand, are making excuses for and enabling the criminal. I like my position much better.

[JSteff]

Or better yet for FREE you can go here: http://www.grisoft.com/us/us_dwnl_free.php
and get a AVG for FREE. Updates are free also.

I am not associated with the company just a very satisfied user. Very stable and works great!

[atomicpossum]

Worse yet, the attachment to this e-mail, "jennifer the wild girl xxx07.jpg.pif," is a virus that has severely infected computers internationally.

A big part of this problem has come from people who don't understand file extensions and keep them shut off in their Windows system. When Microsoft began to lower the bar on computer knowledge, things began to get easier for the malicious....

(I think everyone should be forced to start with a command line interface, and they can work up to a gui from there...)

[MarkL]

As for disinfecting this virus, a special utility called F-Secure has been developed to eliminate the Zafi.B worm infection and can be downloaded at their web site.

I'm so happy to know that people writing for newpapers are as knowledgable about computer virus infections as they are about "assault weapons!"

F-Secure is a company! F-Secure, AVG, McAfee, CA, Symantec, Kaperski, and all the others have the fix for this.

BTW, if you don't want to be infected by something like this, DO NOT TOUCH THE ATTACHMENT!!!!

Mark

[BraveMan]

I received this e-mail three days ago at work. I right-clicked the attachment in order to access the PROPERTIES dialog (to view the full filename, it was truncated in the icon) and whammo, off it went. It exploits yet another hole in Outlook . . .

You DON'T have to open this one to set it off. Its nasty.

I'm a paranoid guy; yet it got past me.

[kanawa]

What does 'pif' stand for?

[JLO]

Hey, I'm a paranoid gal-type, myself, and have had numerous helpers downloaded and updated for quite a few years. Consider yourself lucky (I guess??) BraveMan, I can't even get my Netscape mail to download and read for about a week.

That's one of the craziest things I've experieced. Although, that's just one of many things. I have ZoneAlarm and AVG installed and updated regularly. Anyone have a fix for that, please private Freepmail, so I don't miss seeing it.

I even had a difficult time today, getting to Freerepublic, using IE. The URL kept changing.

What's a gal to do?