bongme Posted June 2, 2003 Share Posted June 2, 2003 HI The subject line says the e-mail is from bill@microsoft.com Monday, 2 June, 2003 If you find an e-mail from Bill Gates in your inbox, the chances are that the message is a computer virus. Security experts are warning that a mass-mailing worm is spreading widely across the internet, sometimes posing as an e-mail from the Microsoft boss. The Windows virus, called Sobig-C, forwards itself to any addresses found on the infected computer, using several faked addresses such as bill@microsoft.com. This is the second time in recent weeks that virus writers have used messages pretending to be from Microsoft to lure unsuspecting users into opening a malicious program. Spat of attacks Anti-virus companies have rated Sobig-C as a high risk virus. According to e-mail filtering firm MessageLabs, it was first spotted on 31 May in the US. It has now spread across the world, with the UK bearing the brunt of the rogue e-mails. "Sobig-C is the latest in a recent spat of mass mailers and is proof that the problem of virus outbreaks has not gone away," said Paul Wood, Chief Information Analyst at MessageLabs. "We have seen over 15 new viruses in the past month, and recently stopped five new variants in one day." People have been warned to be on the lookout for e-mails containing subject lines such as "Re: Movie", "Re: Approved", or "Re: Your application", with the message "Please see the attached file". The worm uses a number of different attachment names including "screensaver.scr", "movie.pif" and "documents.pif". Cunning tricks Like other mass-mailing worms, Sobig-C does harm a computer but will forward itself to others. It spreads through e-mail addresses, plundered from the Outlook address book as well as from other networked computers. In a sneaky trick, it will make changes to a computer so that the machine will be re-infected when you restart it. People are advised to delete any suspect e-mails straight away and to update their anti-virus software to stop the Sobig-C virus. Virus writers are becoming ever more cunning in how they persuade people to open infected messages. Tennis stars, the war on Iraq and even the Sars virus have been used in the past to lure net users. But recently virus writers have turned to take advantage of the name of the world's largest software company. A couple of weeks ago, a virus masquerading as a message from Microsoft support was spotted in at least 69 countries. Bongme Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wilbur Nutsack Posted June 2, 2003 Share Posted June 2, 2003 (edited) I just got one today dressed up as a mail delivery failure notification (with a .zlb attachment) Bastards Wilbur Edited June 2, 2003 by Wilbur Nutsack Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave meggie Posted June 2, 2003 Share Posted June 2, 2003 give hackers the death penalty that will soon stop them Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joolz Posted June 2, 2003 Share Posted June 2, 2003 My e-mail is scanned before I get it, OE is set not to open attachments and Grisoft Antivirus scans every mail before I read them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wilbur Nutsack Posted June 2, 2003 Share Posted June 2, 2003 Mine is usually scanned but i've become lazy with my software theft recently and the damn thing expired. I'm gonna be riddled Wilbur Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mickle Posted June 2, 2003 Share Posted June 2, 2003 AVG from grisoft is free and good, http://www.grisoft.com/ its free so it wont expire. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jammin Posted June 3, 2003 Share Posted June 3, 2003 give hackers the death penalty that will soon stop them I hate to bitch dave but i find that comment a little nieve. I think you should do some research before you go laying the death penalty on the 'hackers' of the world. Maybe try some research before taring them all with the same brush. Alot of hackers aim to help the sys admins of the networks they probe by emailing them their findings. What do they get in return? A slap in the face and threats of prosicution! A world wide black listed identity as the 'internet criminals' the 'information super highway hijackers!' All because of trying to help a system admin do his job a little better. And thats what it comes down to. Some of these guys dont know jack, and cant stand having their noses rubbed in it. Even when its done in a polite and forward manner. Now im not saying that all 'hackers' are little angels, spend half an hour in the yahoo 'hackers' lounge and you'll see guys\girls with half a brain and its in their arse. Like i said, do some research and i think you'll find an extensive world of the computer underground. People who need to grow up, and people that know more about computers and hold more power in their fingertips than you or i could ever hope too. I recomend an excellent book that is not only a brilliant story, but also sheds a little light on the mentality of these people. Masters of deception : the gang that ruled cyber space. by Michele Slatalla Its an unbelieveable read. One of my favourite books of all time. Use to send chills down my spine Again dave, sorry to rant but hackers are a big part of society, where would all the security and encyption guys be without the hackers? Obsolete thats where. They drive an ever increasing market from which software giants make millions. The truth is the internet would not function as it does today without them. And every day, as the super highway grows bigger, faster, and expands in all directions so do the hackers. ''...You may stop this individual, but you cant stop us all....'' - hackers manifesto Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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