Posted on 01/20/2005 8:48:23 PM PST by holymoly
A PC virus has started to spread through e-mail, luring potential victims by disguising itself as a headline newsletter from CNN, an antivirus company said Thursday.
E-mails laden with the virus, dubbed "Crowt.A" by Sophos, do not have a typical subject line and other characteristics, Sophos said. Instead, the virus sends out e-mail messages with subject lines, message content and attachment names drawn from the latest news headlines on CNN's Web site, which it gathers as it spreads. Very few Sophos customers have reported that they been affected by Crowt.A so far, the company said.
"Virus writers are always looking for new tricks to entice innocent computer users into running their malicious code. This latest ploy feeds on people's desire for the latest news," Carole Theriault, a security consultant at Sophos, said in a statement.
If a news-hungry PC user opens an infected e-mail attachment, the virus will install a program to allow remote intruders to rummage through the victim's PC and grab sensitive information. A program that records information entered into the infected computer, known as a keylogger, could also snare a victim's log-in information, Sophos said in its description of the virus, which it is referring to as a worm.
Other computer viruses have incorporated real-time elements in a similar manner to spread faster. The Santy worm, for example, used a real-time search of Google to find vulnerable computers.
The last time attackers targeted CNN was in 2000, when the Time Warner company fell prey--with other online sites--to a series of denial-of-service attacks.
I never have received e-mail from CNN, and do not plan to do so. On the other hand, this will bring down the computers of many socialistas.
hehehe
CNN is a virus.
A PC virus. How appropriate.
Hehehehe...
Perhaps the legal penalties for this type of activity could be increased until it becomes prohibitive, or until we run out of virus writers.
I get to be first!
It's Bush's fault!
BTTT
"or until we run out of virus writers."
Works for me!
Set your email program to read only in plain text, too....:)
Any time I get any news from any source besides NewsMax it gets 86'ed.
Definately. I use Hotmail and it is real good that way. It will not let you open anything in the form of a graphic until you say to enable.
Someone sends me an email with colored text, it does not show up. I reply and tell them to send regular text or I can not see it.
sorry my bad lol
heh heh. Good thing I'd pay no attention whatsoever to anything CNN sent me.
cnn is now tranfering std's or something tell them to keep them to there selves!!!!
LOL! As if CNN or Time Warner ever provided any service.
Since I started doing that [Outlook Express 6 made it possible] I have not gotten a single email virus.
[the great side-benefit is that I don't have to actually look at those "bored, lonely housewives" and *worse* everytime my mail opens]...LOL!
The only things I've ever been hit with are website trojan "bugs".
AntiVir and Spybot catches and quarantines them before they install themselves so I've been pretty good, so far.
Plus, I have a hardware firewall, which helps a -lot-...:))
How is that hardware firewall? I've been using Zone Alarm with security setting cranked up. Seems to be working. What is your take on it?
I have a Netgear firewall.
I love it.
It blocks all that annoying "smurfing" and pinging from hacker probes and when you look at the security logs, it's terrifying to see all the stuff that's been "feeling you out" when you weren't looking.
I'm a big Zone Alarm fan although their last 2 updates have really given me problems with my eBay cookies.
[then again, it could just be me because I run my security so high that I'm blocking -everything- but outright first party cookies which I have to deny or accept]
I used to be a diehard Norton Internet Security user but their layest version has crashed every PC I've put it on.
I don't know if it just doesn't get along with Dells or what.
This is what I have if you're interested:
http://netgear.com/products/details/FVS318.php
we've had problems with NetGear. It may hold up for very light use, but I'd avoid it if you have a bit more money to spend.
I must've gotten lucky.
This thing has been a network with an average of 6-7 PCs running 24/7 for almost 3 years without so much as a hiccup.
[knock on wood]...LOL!
Previously I had both a Linksys and a SOHOware Broadguard and neither of them lived a month past their warranties.
Glad to hear your experience with Netgear. We haven't had good things to say about Linksys either. The one we've used most is Snapgear, now a line of Cyberguard.
IMO, Linksys is waste of money and time.
I have had the -worst- time with that brand of router and firewall.
Then, like gluttons for punishment, we bought a Linksys network camera.
That piece of junk was a nightmare and it went back to the store in less than a week.
To make matters worse, the tech support people were incomprehensible.
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