At the time of writing, Sophos has received no reports from users affected by this worm. However, we have issued this advisory following enquiries to our support department from customers.
Downstream victims can become infected simply by reading an email sent by the virus. Note, however, that this email relies on a bug in Microsoft Outlook for which a patch has already been published. If you have downloaded and applied up-to-date patches from Microsoft, then the exploit used by this email will not work and the email is harmless.
So keep those patches up to date people, a firewall and AV are only the start of a secure system...
tallnhairy i can't get outlook running with AOL so am i safe from this then. only use the AOL mail client, and don't ever click on mails from unknown addys?
and are booted users really so sad as to launch DOS attacks???????? ;-( <refrains from language appropriate to those individuals>
neil
tallnhairy i can't get outlook running with AOL so am i safe from this then. only use the AOL mail client, and don't ever click on mails from unknown addys?
and are booted users really so sad as to launch DOS attacks???????? ;-( <refrains from language appropriate to those individuals>
neil
Thanks for that Harry (and everyone else!!!)
Congratulations on your 500th Post - keep them coming!! :shock: :shock: :shock:
Thanks Harry, and congragulations on your 500 posts.
I was thinking of you today when I saw a beetle that I'd never seen before. Without thinking, I said to my son, 'I bet Harry would know what it was'. He looked at me with vague amusement, as he tends to do these days, and said. 'which Harry would this be then Dad?'
I have just done a 15 page report on viruses for a course and thought i would post this for the less techie members.
Prevention at home
There are many ways to help prevent viruses gaining access to you home computer.
1. Anti-Virus software is freely available for home computers
2. Don’t open any mail that you do not recognise or attachments
3. Regular scanning with the virus software is recommended once a week
4. Do not use anything other than original software
5. Make regular back-ups of your vital files such as system data and personal data.
6. Update your virus scanner every week too over 500 new viruses are discovered every month.
7. Scan attachments and other documents with the virus scanner before opening
Prevention at work
Work places can also follow the above steps but they can also do a little bit extra to ensure virus free working.
1. Use more professional versions of anti-virus software.
2. Do not leave computers on if it is on and sitting there it can be used without authorization.
3. Pay attention to changes in the way the system operates in order to detect virus infections quickly i.e. if the system is running slow, erratic, rebooting.
4. Store original programs safely, such as by write-protecting disks and making a backup copy of them on such items as Zip drives.
5. To help prevent damage from viruses that result from unauthorized accesses and misuse limit the number of system users and their rights to certain sites and programs in the system.
6. Stop system users from writing to the directories where shared programs are stored.
7. Delete programs that are not necessary for system operation to help prevent extra ways for the virus to operate and infiltrate.
Dunno if your interested in this as well folks.
History of the Virus
1949
• Theories for self-replicating programs are first developed
1981
• Apple Viruses 1, 2, and 3 are some of the first viruses “in the wild,†or in the public domain. Found on the Apple II operating system, the viruses spread through Texas A&M via pirated computer games.
1986
• First PC virus was created “Brain virus†this was a boot sector virus and only infected boot records of 360k floppy disks. (It was also the first stealth virus)
1987
• Lehigh virus discovered at the Lehigh University in the U.S. First “memory resident file infectorâ€.
• Jerusalem virus appears after at Hebrew University in Israel. First virus to re-infect already infected programs.
1988
• First Anti-Virus virus written
• Cascade virus found in Germany. (First encrypted virus)
• Media becomes aware and starts to give attention to the issue.
• Chernobyl virus spreads via .exe files and attacks files and a certain chip within computers
• First virus to infect java
1989
• The virus Dark Avenger introduced a new feature. It was designed to enter a system and damage it slowly so it would go unnoticed first and people would back up damaged files.
• Frodo Virus found in Israel first full-stealth infector.
1990
• IBM, McAfee, Digital Dispatch and Iris introduce anti virus software
• Viruses advance to include Armoring, Multipartite, and polymorphism.
1991
• Symantec release Norton Anti-Virus software
• First Polymorphic, Multipartite and stealth virus discovered. (Tequila)
1992
• 1300 viruses are in existence, an increase of 420% from December of 1990.
1993
• Satan Virus appears anti-virus industry help the FBI find the author turns out to be a kid.
• Cruncher found and considered to be a good virus because it compressed programs and gave users more space.
1994
• Kaos4 virus posted on pornography news group, encoded as text and downloaded by a number of users.
• Virus appears in England called pathogen, the author tracked down by Scotland Yard’s Computer Crime Unit and convicted.
1995
• Release of Windows 95 - first macro virus appears
1996
• Concept virus becomes most common virus in the world
• Boza is the first virus designed for Windows 95
• First virus to successfully infect Microsoft Excel (Laroux)
1999
• Melissa virus appears (macro virus) it uses Microsoft word and spreads though email using Outlook
• Bubble Boy is the first worm that does not depend on the recipient opening an attachment in order for infection to occur. As soon as the user opens the email, Bubble Boy sets to work.
2000
• “I Love You Virus†wreaks havoc around the world and is transmitted by the user opening the email holding the virus it is then sent to everyone in the users address book.
• The “Stages†virus, disguised as a joke email about the stages of life, spreads across the Internet. Unlike most previous viruses, Stages is hidden in an attachment with a false “. Txt†extension, making it easier to lure recipients into opening it.
2001
• Nimda virus infects hundreds of thousands of computers in the world. The virus is one of the most sophisticated to date with as many as five different methods of replicating and infecting systems.
2002
• The Bugbear worm also makes it first appearance in September. It is a complex worm with many methods of infecting systems.
2003
• “Slammer†(Sapphire) worm becomes the fastest spreading worm to date, infecting 75,000 computers in approximately ten minutes.
2004
• In January a computer worm, called MyDoom or Novarg, spreads through emails and file-sharing software faster than any previous virus or worm
:rotflmao: :rotflmao: 
