Joined: 18 Feb 2005 Location: Star Kingdom of Manticore
Posted: Fri Feb 03, 2006 3:51 pm Post subject:
VIRUS ALERT!
Virus Alert!
Please do not open any attachment sent by LifeOwner. It has an attachment, usually a powerpoint, that has one of the most destructive viruses known to date. CNN had a special on it last night. The virus goes by the code names Nyxem, Blackmal, MyWife, and KamaSutra. and is designed to be released today (February 2, 2006 at 12:00 noon Eastern Seaboard Time, Approximately 2 hours from now)
Delete any suspicious email you get. The media reports that Hotmail, Yahoo, and Gmail accounts will be the first attacked, then the later, less popular email hostees.
The designer went to the media, and reported that no anti-virus has been able to defeat it.
Just a fair warning for u guys. _________________ "Reality is a lovely place, but I wouldn't want to live there." -Adam Young QUICK_EDIT
Joined: 26 Nov 2002 Location: Algae Colony On Mars
Posted: Fri Feb 03, 2006 4:21 pm Post subject:
Blimey, talk about slow. This virus has been known about since early January, but Microsoft has refused to create an update for it in the time they knew of its existence. If you have a habit of opening dodgy emails (or use Outlook Express) then I'd recommend backing up .doc, .xls, .ppt, .psd, .pdf and any other kinds of document. If you've been infected then you'll lose all your data once the virus is activated. _________________
Quote:
This is sexier than what this forum was supposed to tolerate. - Banshee
Joined: 26 Nov 2002 Location: Algae Colony On Mars
Posted: Fri Feb 03, 2006 5:36 pm Post subject:
It's actually recommended to not use any built-in Microsoft products (or Office, for that matter) since they're all hardwired to the Windows kernel in some form or another. If one is compromised, they're all compromised and the whole OS is at risk. In simple words, use Firefox instead of IE, Thunderbird instead of OE, WinAmp (or something else), Gaim instead of MSN, etc. _________________
Quote:
This is sexier than what this forum was supposed to tolerate. - Banshee
Yahoo!'s SpamGuard will do its job for sure (even my friends' e-mails get in the bulk folder ).
I'm not scared of any kind of virus. I backup my stuff often on dvds and cds. Also I have the patience to remove any crap that would contain the virus stored in the spam/trash/bulk folders from my e-mail accounts. QUICK_EDIT
It is my opinion that only really stupid people, i.e. those people in a habit of opening all mail from people they don't know or who regularly visit dodgy pron sites are really at risk from any form of virus.
A little bit of common sense goes a long way.
Any sensible person uses anti-virus software, the majority of whom pay for this software to be up-to-date and it usually is.
I find it odd that viruses still create sheer panic amongst most pc users, even those with anti-virus software. They usually only affect a few people before an antidote is written. QUICK_EDIT
Joined: 26 Nov 2002 Location: Algae Colony On Mars
Posted: Sat Feb 04, 2006 12:15 am Post subject:
http://it.slashdot.org/it/06/02/03/1950207.shtml
Looks like it didn't cause much harm anyway, and it was vastly overhyped. All the virus has done is get more people to go out and buy antivirus software, which is by no means a bad thing.
Tratos is quite right, though, although viruses can have a large impact on the business market. Businesses think that picking Microsoft software is better than other alternatives (it comes free with the operating system, it must be high-quality!) so that's where the problem starts. Put dozens of bored men in front of computers with little knowledge of security and computing other than how to construct a document of some sort, they open an email and then it infects one computer, which will then send to everyone else in his address book (i.e. the office), infect them and then it'll spread to the server and then to the outside world again. _________________
Quote:
This is sexier than what this forum was supposed to tolerate. - Banshee
It is my opinion that only really stupid people, i.e. those people in a habit of opening all mail from people they don't know or who regularly visit dodgy pron sites are really at risk from any form of virus.
Agreed, im not one of those people either _________________ QUICK_EDIT
well viruses that are sent to everyone that uses yahoo is considered spam(unless its a yahoo ad), so if it does attack all yahoo users at once it will be considered spam and be put into the bulk folder _________________ Comcast: Yo dawg we herd yo were downloading, so we put fail in yo modem so yo cant download while yo failin! QUICK_EDIT
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