Viruses

March 1, 2004

Just think, spring is just around the corner. Hard to tell that  around here, with four feet of snow still on the ground, but I  have been busy ordering seeds and daydreaming about getting  my hands in the soil.

Speaking of dirt, there's a new virus going around that uses a  dirty trick to fool you into thinking it's legit. It pretends to be from your ISP - your internet connection service - but it is not.  Please be very careful of all email that you receive, and do  NOT open any attachments unless you are positive you know  what they are!

Here are some more details about this dirty rascal. You can  read even more by following the links at the end. 

{snip}

The combined activity of variants D, C and B of Netsky, along  with Bagle.C and Bagle.E are causing a massive worldwide  epidemic. Yet another variant began spreading across the Internet late  last night. At this time, anti-virus sites have not issued public  notice about this virus, yet we have seen hundreds of copies of it already. We  want you all to be aware of it and the characteristics.

The main thing to watch for is an email that appears to be  from your own ISP. The email carries an attachment (with a  "zip" extension) and a password to "open the attachment". The email will claim the  password is for security reasons. Remember, NEVER open any attachment even if it looks like it is from someone you know or  from own Internet Service Provider (ISP), Microsoft or  companies you have done business with in the past. 

Here is a sample of the body text of this newest virus. Keep in  mind, if you get this in the mail, it will look like it is from your  own ISP (we just used the following as examples). You won't get infected just  by receiving the mail. You have to actually execute (open) the  attachment to get infected. So, just delete it if you see anything that looks like  this: 

Dear user of e-mail server "Earthlink.net", 

Our main mailing server will be temporary unavaible for next  two days, to continue receiving mail in these days you have to configure  our free auto-forwarding service. Please, read the attach for further details. In order to read the attach you have to use the following  password: 31204. 

Sincerely, 

The Earthlink.net team 

OR 

Dear user of e-mail server "AOL.com", 

Our antivirus software has detected a large ammount of  viruses outgoing from your email account, you may use our free anti-virus tool  to clean up your computer software. Pay attention on attached file. Attached file protected with the password for security reasons.  Password is 57151.

Cheers, 

The AOL.com team 

We urge you: Please check to make sure your anti-virus  program is up to date; you should check for updates several  times a week. An anti-virus program that has not been updated can be worse than none at all. If you bought a new computer more than a  year ago and it had Norton or McAfee installed when you bought it and you have  not paid the renewal fee, the software is outdated and not doing you any good.  Replace it or pay the subscription fee.

For those that need a good, free anti virus program here are two that we recommend:

AVG anti-virus at http://grisoft.com

AVAST anti-virus at http://www.avast.com/

Also, for those who want to be sure they're not infected please scan your system for virus/worms at:

http://housecall.trendmicro.com/

If everyone stopped clicking on attachments in email  without thinking, these epidemics would not happen. If  you feel the attachment may really be from a friend or that it may be a legitimate file, please  save it to your hard drive and scan it with your updated anti- virus program. Help spread the word and help limit the effects of this epidemic  and forward this information to your friends, family, and  associates.

{end snip}

I'm not sure where the above came from, as it was forwarded  to me. Took me a while to find some honest info, but here it  is:

http://us.mcafee.com/virusInfo/default.asp?id=description&vir us_k=101071

Please, be smart, stay safe, and have a great month!

 This site maintained by The Computer Counselor