Posted on 6/26/2004, 5:41:28 AM by Ernest_at_the_Beach
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| Internet Attack Exploits Microsoft Software Flaws Fri Jun 25, 2004 08:25 PM ET By Duncan Martell SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A potentially dangerous attack on personal computers by a virus designed to steal financial data and passwords from Web users rippled across the Internet on Friday, computer security experts said. The attack, which surfaced earlier this week and is known as the "Scob" outbreak, exploits a vulnerability in servers using Microsoft Corp.'s IIS software and has been called more dangerous than the recent "Sasser" and "Blaster" infections. The infected servers in turn exploit another vulnerability in Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser to install a Trojan Horse virus on the PCs of Web surfers who visit the infected Web sites, said Alfred Huger, senior director of engineering at Internet security company Symantec Corp. "All of this takes place while it looks like you're viewing the same Web page," Huger said. "You don't even know that parts of your browser have been redirected to another Web site."
The U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness team warned on its Web site that "any Web site, even those that may be trusted by the user, may be affected by this activity and thus contain potentially malicious code." The Trojan Horse places a keystroke logger on users' PCs and is designed to capture credit card numbers and passwords and send them back to a server in Russia, said Michael Murray, director of vulnerability and exposure at computer security firm nCircle Network Security.
By late Friday, however, the threat to users' personal data has been diminished, at least for now. "The server appears to have been shut down in the last eight hours," Murray said. "We don't know if it was shut down by authorities or whether it was accidental." The attack is more alarming than most because there are no patches available yet from Microsoft to fix the vulnerability in Internet Explorer that lets the hackers take control of computers, security researchers said. On its Web site, Microsoft said users could search for the files "Kk32.dll" or "Surf.dat" to see if their PCs were infected. The company also suggested users set their browser security level to "high."
Experts also urged computer users to update their anti-virus software protection software Most anti-virus software has been updated so that it can prevent the Trojan Horse from being installed, but because there is no patch yet available, there's no way to prevent future attacks to install the virus, Huger said.
"The truly alarming part is there is no patch available for that vulnerability," Huger said.
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I find that a paper plate is the solution to most problems. :o)
Yes, I use paper plates heavily!
And plastic cups.
Except for my coffee Latte in the morning.... That is a ritual I must have...
Except for my coffee Latte in the morning.... That is a ritual I must have...
Ahhhhh, to have the luxury of a moment of civilization....
Ok, the ice cream calls...feed the cats, and then to sleep, perchance to dream of a clean computer....
Bon soir. :o)
You rang?
First of all, I believe you are supposed to run those malware checkers in safe mode, but it shouldn't be vital to download them in safe mode.
When the PC boots, right after the BIOS screen clears, there is a brief moment to hit F8 and bring up the safe mode menu... you may have to try several times. If you observe the screen closely, you should see a line saying something about "strike F8 to enter safe mode or diagnostics." And usually by the time you have comprehended it, it has passed! Keep trying until you get a line by line menu with several choices, safe mode, safe with networking, command prompt, etc.
Safe mode takes forever to load, and the graphics are abysmal, but you should be able to work from there... if you have trouble accessing all the icons, remember the old dead mouse trick of moving through the icons with shift-tab and the arrow keys, alt-F4 to close a window, etc.
I am so exhausted! I got out of work early, went home, and installed Norton System Works, scans, rebooting galore, one adware file I can't delete, and I'm downloading spybot, right now.
Too tired to even think about punctuation! LOL! What a lot of work, and strange icons, and noises from my CPU.
Thanks , I didn't have a clue, but I didn't mess with PC's till windows was out,....
It's complaining!!
I am running LINUX and I have made no modifications or entered any line commands. Been posting on FreeRepublic all day. The Konqueror browser has some limitations though. No "view partial source" which I have to have. Got to figure out how to get Firefox installed.
If you do get Firefox installed for Linux, let me know how you did it- that "view partial source" is vital to me.
Lauren BaRecall, sometimes those undeletable files can be gotten rid of in safe mode by using Windows Explorer... not Internet Explorer, but the Explorer that nearly everyone forgets is bundled with the OS... I think it's in "accessories," and you have to go in it and be sure to poke the tab that enables it to show ALL files.
Failing that, boot a DOS disc, locate the bleeding thing, and try deleting or renaming it and then try to delete it.
Hmm. Windows Explorer. I have to take a look at this. I happened to stumble into C:\programs\accessories in an effort to find an answer to my problem of resetting Solitaire to non drag mode (which I never set it to, by the way). I found a file in there that had alternate dial up ISP providers. I'd love to delete the whole file, but I'm not sure if there's anything I really do need.
By the way, I didn't find a folder for the games.
Norton is a big Hog....
How much memory have you got?
I thought I had 128 RD RAM. Does that sound right? I better look. I also better brush up on my busses! LOL! I never had any memory problem when I had just the Anti Virus program.
I'm glad you confirmed this fact about Norton. I suspected this to be the case when I saw different little signs slide up from the bottom of my desktop. I guess I could disable more stuff, and use on a "as needed" basis. But I'd have to figure out what and how many functions, in order to get back my Solitaire.
I always play a quick game right before I shut down the computer. :o)
I'll take a look at that, too. Thanks. :o)
FL_engineer pinged me to that Browser Safety thread, so I have even more to read. I plan to hang around on these threads, because I now have this huge computer project!
Ok, more work tomorrow, or thereabouts....
Repinging myself - working on cleaning my C drive now.
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