Virus Alert!

[delila]

Kimberly,

Just got my drive checked.  No coodies here.
Still the message is "Unclean! Unclean!" where ever I turn.  Almost sounds like somebody hit rewind doesn't it?
Delila

[delila]

Hugh,
Washing your hands doesn't hurt either.  I've worked in a lot of schools.  Really.
drh

[brian]

Definitely deleted them. Wondering how the worm/virus pulled my email address off the board.

I would be surprised if my address was in the address book of any of the people whom I received email from.

the virus randomly matches up both the TO: and the FROM: email addresses, so the only thing you need is somone who has your address in their address book and all the other folk's addresses in their address book and the virus will mix n match. think of the address book like a hat full of email addresses. the virus randomly draws an email from the hat and puts that in the To: field, then draws another email from the hat and makes that the From: field. make sense?

kimberly: about the popups - do what stephen advices. i recently got cable internet and started getting all those popups as well, and shutting off that messenger service completely eliminated them. i can't believe windows still leaves that on by default!  

brent's advice about spyware removal programs is a Good Idea for all users, just like everyone should have the best virus protection money can buy. if more users did those relatively simple tasks worms and spyware would not be nearly the issue they are today. actually, they would probably be just that much more cleverly designed, but whatever - its still a good idea.

re: email programs - i telnet onto my server using putty in secure mode, so i am actually viewing my email in a text-based unix environment, instead of windows. they make about as many worms for unix as they do for macs (ie none). i occasionally use eudora to download backups of my email onto my local harddrive, but i don't use the addressbook at all.

and btw, hugh, at risk of displaying some gross ignorance on my part, i have never heard of a single virus that can attack your system just because you view the email. you have to actually click on the attachment to try and open it or run it in order to release the virus.  i think this is universally correct (lucas? stephen? others?). i am only talking about an email-transmitted virus here, of course - a virus could copy itself through the network, etc, but reading or not reading your email won't affect that.

practice safe computing...

brian

[jesusfreak]

re: email programs - i telnet onto my server using putty in secure mode, so i am actually viewing my email in a text-based unix environment, instead of windows. they make about as many worms for unix as they do for macs (ie none). i occasionally use eudora to download backups of my email onto my local harddrive, but i don't use the addressbook at all.

I am assuming you use pine then (i use mutt)?  In my experience, it is hard to take down a machine via the properly setup shell account's email reader.....but you can still wreck amazing havok with their console .    

I personally have an installation of spamAssassian running on my highschool's IRX boxes that I bounce all my other email accounts' mail to for virus checking / spam filtering purposes.  After filtering, they are sent back to the various accounts.  The only annoyance is when any of the given servers goes down  

and btw, hugh, at risk of displaying some gross ignorance on my part, i have never heard of a single virus that can attack your system just because you view the email. you have to actually click on the attachment to try and open it or run it in order to release the virus.  i think this is universally correct (lucas? stephen? others?). i am only talking about an email-transmitted virus here, of course - a virus could copy itself through the network, etc, but reading or not reading your email won't affect that.

Depends on how the system is setup. Some email readers have the functionality of automatically caching the attached files which could trigger execution (*cough* OUTLOOK*cough*).  

But no, this is not universal.....the main constraint would be the properties of the security hole being exploited.  Back in highschool, I wrote a nice script which would automatically shutdown any windows system  and imbedded it into a HTML page.  It was also able to be sent to people via email......quite a nice prank I thought

--
lucas

[d3z]

and btw, hugh, at risk of displaying some gross ignorance on my part, i have never heard of a single virus that can attack your system just because you view the email. you have to actually click on the attachment to try and open it or run it in order to release the virus.  i think this is universally correct (lucas? stephen? others?). i am only talking about an email-transmitted virus here, of course - a virus could copy itself through the network, etc, but reading or not reading your email won't affect that.

Unless, of course, you are using a Microsoft product, which is riddled with so many bugs that people figure out how to run attachments in just the preview window.

Running on windows has two disadvantages: 1. since it is the majority platform, it is what people will generally make works/virii for, and 2. because it is the majority, Microsoft has little incentive to actually make software that works well.

[Kimberley Tobin]

Thank you one and all who contributed your ideas .  I couldn't do a thing !  But when my husband came home he spent 5 hours cleaning up the system (and yes, it was those nasty pop-ups )

These pop-ups were so insidious it wreaked more havoc than just having them "pop-up".  I can't even explain it, because I am not a computer geek .

But, again, thank you, thank you, thank you!

Today, my husband will be installing a fire-wall and up-dating our virus software (DUH!!!)

Wish I had some of Luke's neeto emoticons.

Happy Sunday Guys!

P.S.  GREG GOT A JOB DOWN HERE FINALLY!  YEAH!!!!!!!!!  Only two more weeks of commuting and then he's down here for good.  Thank you to anyone who prayed for us during this difficult six months of being apart.

[Margaret]

New Virus Alert!!

  You should be alert during the next days:
  Do not open any message with an attached filed called "Invitation"
  regardless of who sent it.
 
  It is a virus that opens an Olympic Torch which "burns" the whole
  hard disc C of your computer.
 
  This virus will be received from someone who has your e-mail
  address in his/her contact list, that is why you should send this e-
  mail to all your contacts.
 
  It is better to receive this message 25 times than to receive the
  virus and open it.
 
  If you receive a mail called "invitation", though sent by a friend,
  do not open it and shut down your computer immediately.
 
  This is the worst virus announced by CNN, it has been classified by
  Microsoft as the most destructive virus ever.
 
  This virus was discovered by McAfee yesterday, and there is no
  repair yet for this kind of virus.
 
  This virus simply destroys the Zero Sector of the Hard Disc, where
  the vital information is kept.
 
  SEND THIS E-MAIL TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW, COPY THIS E-MAIL AND SEND IT
  TO YOUR FRIENDS AND REMEMBER:
 
  IF YOU SEND IT TO THEM, YOU WILL BENEFIT ALL OF US

[brian]

this particular virus threat is actually a hoax.

http://www.snopes.com/computer/virus/invitation.asp

but its always a good idea to be very suspicious of any attachments.

[Margaret]

Sorry about that!  I received the notification from an attorney, so
i passed it on without checking it out.  My bad.