Security thread: New Messenger Virus

[PinkFloydYoshi]

According to Yesterday's 'Inside Mac' Podcast, a new AIM virus has been released.

Trend Micro (Creator of PC-Cillin - My recommended anti-virus software) reported the new worm. The worm spreads using the AOL Instant Messenger Network, and sends "This picture never get's old <Link>" and the download masks itself as itunes.exe(Yes, the current world leading media player and Music Store. Please remember you can ONLY obtain iTunes by heading to itunes.com . The *official* filename for itunes is iTunes-setup.exe.). Once installed, the worm opens a backdoor, allowing the installation of 4 adware applications.

This affects Windows 95, 98, ME, NT, 2000, LEVEL UP ! ! and Windows server 2003.

If you download the file accidently, do NOT run it. AIM, by default, downloads files to a directory called 'downloads' in your 'My Documents'. Go into this directory, and destroy the file 'itunes.exe'.

This is a reminder to everyone that you need to watch what you're receiving, even if it get's sent from a friend. Confirm from them, that they sent it. If they do not reply, or reply no, do not click the link

Gotta love these podcasts...

[Enrique]

You should be cautious and careful where you're clicking anyway...
I'm not on AIM all that much anyways...

[Angela]

uhh. i'm not a AIM member so it dosn't matter?

[PinkFloydYoshi]

jackyoshi said:

uhh. i'm not a AIM member so it dosn't matter?

The podcast didn't say wether it affected any other networks (MSN, Yahoo, etc...) but they can tamper with them, so you know what to look out for, should it affect your msn too.

[Angela]

oh i see! but this one was good to know anyway! i gonna keep an eye... maybe two eyes..

[Soul]

This thread breaks a new board rule implemented on July 12:


timyoshi.proboards23.com/index.cgi?board=regulations&action=display&thread=1080781075

[PinkFloydYoshi]

yoshisoul said:

This thread breaks a new board rule implemented on July 12:


timyoshi.proboards23.com/index.cgi?board=regulations&action=display&thread=1080781075

Wow. Is it a common occurence to modify rules without agreeing the change with the rest of the staff, and not announcing the change after? It takes a month long discussion to meet everyone's ends to make a resolution as to whether a rule addition should go through or not, over at tyfn, seeing wether it's best for the members, Will the members adjust to a particular rule change, or will there be problems? Will staff find it easy to moderate? Is it something that annoys members? Is the new rule contradicing any other rules? All these questions are part of a long list that is queried each time a possible addition to the rule set is disscussed in order to meet the board member's and staff's needs, without problems. While it's no problem with me if I didn't post these threads, less people would be notified of the most common strains, and in the end, if the threat is serious enough, we'll have lack of a member. At the moment, Anjil is suffering a nasty virus, so she is unable to complete her duties because of this. Board members need to have peace of mind staff will be available when they need to ensure we are meeting their needs, and keeping the forum a great place to come to, while keeping to our daily lifestyle.

It's news to me, however, While it's annoying to people who know these issues, it's informative to those who know absolutely nothing of them, especially with these messenger worms. People don't realise that something their friend could be sending could be infact, a virus, worm or other form of malware, because it looks like a perfectly innocent sentence being sent from their friend. With enough warnings, people who aren't so commonly known about these issues will also start to get fustrated with threads like these, but they will finally know that something as innocent as a link being sent from a friend, is a potential risk. If more people are warned that all these new strains are always coming out, everyday, they know to be more cautious with what they do, and in turn, less money would be forked out on getting a machine reinstalled, or even worse, someone getting an entire new machine and binning the old one because they don't know that a simple reinstall can solve the problem. With less being forked out on reinstall's, and in the event, new hardware, costs of services will be bought down.

You'd be very surprised on how the anti-virus industry works. It's all about money, and not about the passion of protecting their customer's PC's.

As many people as possible need to be warned about why these things affect them, and how to counter it, in the correct fashion to avoid being ripped off.

I could go on about why these warnings are neccasary, and why people need to be constantly warned that their PC is constantly under threat if they do not keep up with Windows updates, virus definition updates, as well as buying the correct anti-virus kit. Most warnings are taken for granted, until their pc's fall victim. They have no idea about the damage they can cause until it happens to them. When it's happened is too late and depending on what that person is doing online, it can have serious side effects.

I will now stop writing, because I can write large paragraphs on why people need to be warned, before we have a member critical to the forum, stay offline until they can get their pc repaired. This forum isn't so bad, because there's 2 people who know about the effects a virus has the power to do, and what to do to avoid it ever getting onto their computers in administration, but we have webmasters and forum admin's among our memberbase on this board who aren't so anti-virus savvy.

[Soul]

Is it a common occurence to modify rules without agreeing the change with the rest of the staff, and not announcing the change after?

I acknowledge that I should have told the staff about the changes. But I wouldn't have asked board users first before applying the new rule, unless it were something very important and/or something that affects them very significantly. Whenever I add new rules I always discuss them with Timyoshi first. If he agrees then I go directly to the board constitution thread and add the new rules.

It takes a month long discussion to meet everyone's ends to make a resolution as to whether a rule addition should go through or not, over at tyfn, seeing wether it's best for the members, Will the members adjust to a particular rule change, or will there be problems? Will staff find it easy to moderate? Is it something that annoys members? Is the new rule contradicing any other rules? All these questions are part of a long list that is queried each time a possible addition to the rule set is disscussed in order to meet the board member's and staff's needs, without problems.

It all boils down to who owns the board. If tyfn was originally created by a group of people, then it is assumed that the board belongs to all of them; Thus when a new rule is to be approved, it would be expected that all the founding members would have a chat about it. In Yoshi's Corner's case, the founding members are me and Timyoshi. And we already had our discussion about the new rules, which was done via PM.

if I didn't post these threads, less people would be notified of the most common strains, and in the end, if the threat is serious enough, we'll have lack of a member.

It is a board administrator's duty to ensure success of the board, not the members'. Thus it makes no sense to tell users about proposed board changes because, being users, they lack the commitment for the board that board admins have.

it's informative to those who know absolutely nothing of them, especially with these messenger worms. People don't realise that something their friend could be sending could be infact, a virus, worm or other form of malware, because it looks like a perfectly innocent sentence being sent from their friend. With enough warnings, people who aren't so commonly known about these issues will also start to get fustrated with threads like these, but they will finally know that something as innocent as a link being sent from a friend, is a potential risk.

Do you have any idea of how many viruses work this same way? Take the supova worm for example. It was discovered on June 03, 2003, and it spreads exactly this way. It sends one of these messages to all MSN Messenger contacts, along with a download link:

Hehe, check this out : -)
Funny, check it out (h)
LOL!! See this : D
LOL!! Check this out : )

So it makes no sense to make a post that is specific to 1 virus. If what you want is to prevent infections, the ideal choice would be to make a thread whose intention is to educate users about this particular method of infection, and not about just a single virus that uses this particular method.

As many people as possible need to be warned about why these things affect them, and how to counter it, in the correct fashion to avoid being ripped off.

It may not pay off even after they know this. You have to try to put yourself in their shoes: They don't care about how computers work. They just do not. Example: You wrote "This affects Windows 95, 98, ME, NT, 2000, LEVEL UP ! ! and Windows server 2003." Most people don't even know what windows version they're running, to begin with, even when they see it right in front of their faces every single time they turn their computer on. How can you explain this? It is because they absolutely do not care. Such is the mentality of non-geeks. I've even seen a few people that don't even know what windows is. So what does this mean? Since viruses today use highly advanced methods of infection, educating average computer users about how to make their computers bulletproof has become almost impossible. Most viruses simply spread to other computers without causing any local damage anyway. Some even auto-delete themselves after a certain date.

I could go on about why these warnings are neccasary, and why people need to be constantly warned that their PC is constantly under threat if they do not keep up with Windows updates, virus definition updates, as well as buying the correct anti-virus kit. Most warnings are taken for granted, until their pc's fall victim.

I do not think you understand how complex this is for the average folk. It's almost an entire hobby really. Plus, the vast majority of average computer users don't have anything really really important stored on their hard drives. I know because I rarely have to back up anything from malfunctioning units that I'm asked to fix. Out of like, 12 computers, I only had to back up 45 megs off of 1, and that was only because it was a computer from a business.

They have no idea about the damage they can cause until it happens to them. When it's happened is too late

They will never have any idea... Yes, even after you tell them. This is because it is too complex for them to understand. I know it is super easy for you, as it is for me, but you just have to realize that we are exceptions to a world who cannot and will not even try to understand computers.