Virus Alert

Phillip Tanaka

Swabbie
Banned
During the past six or seven hours I have been bombarded with a number of emails with a win32 infected attahment. This may or may not be happening to other people as well, so I thought it best to caution you. If you recieve any emails that say See the attached file for details, DO NOT OPEN IT!. If your antivirus catches it then have the file quarentined and save the letters so you can present them to the proper authorities. If not, then delete the messages. And it's no use trying to contact who the email came from. They are all from diffirent addresses and are considered not active, even if one came from shysky99 who had been with Yahoo for a year.
 
Where have you been for the past week? I've been getting them all week at work...

(Anyhow, these viruses of today are so damn easy to avoid, it's a joke...)
 
Had the flu, that's where I was the past week. I get the odd virus sent to me, but nothing on the volume I had last night. Is it some sort of epidemic or worm that causes people's emails to send viruses or such?
 
I've been getting that Sobig.F posts since one day after that MSBlaster Worm run around (about 25 posts that day). Guess I was one of the first ones to get it as only some online scanners identified it that day. Right now I get about 300 copies/day or so. *sigh*Most 'funny' is that some AV packages sent me a a message that I am infected following the faked FROM line.
 
I think one of the worst things about people who send viruses are those who attack someone because of something they say. Really says a lot about being allowed freedom of speech. It's sad that these people who act this way feel that they can say and act how they like and that no one else is entitled to that right.
 
Where are you getting this from? There's very few targeted viruses going around. Most are just randomly distributed and then take on a life of their own. I'm not even going to get into the silly matter of discussing any "free speech" notion online.
 
Phillip Tanaka said:
Great sign of Internet democracy.
Uh, sign of what?

There's nothing democratic about the internet. If anything, the internet (taken as a whole) is a pure anarchy. You don't have any rights whatsoever on the internet. Your freedom of action is defined not by laws but simply by your own capabilities and the capabilities of the people who might object to your actions.
 
I don't think you understand how virii really work. The "I hate you, so I'll send you a virus!" thing is purely middle school fiction -- in reality, viruses pick out e-mail addresses on the internet and spread themselves in order to clog up networks and such.
 
Phillip Tanaka said:
What about the rules and regulations when you join message boards, ISPs, ect? Don't they say not to harass or flame?
Those rules only apply to those particular message boards, ISPs blah blah. They do not extend any further.
 
I delete any e-mail I'm not expressly expecting for this reason. As a result when someone asks me if I recieved a forward, I'll ask them what they're talking about. :)
 
Neither have I. That's a good thing, too.

My work email has been inundated with sobig... (well, the remnants of it anyhow, since the corporate virus scanner fixes that). I didn't give out my work email and I get a ton of crap... someone out there has got my work email for sure...
 
Bandit LOAF said:
The "I hate you, so I'll send you a virus!" thing is purely middle school fiction -- in reality, viruses pick out e-mail addresses on the internet and spread themselves in order to clog up networks and such.

Are you certain about that? I got a virus when I fought child porn, and a friend who looked at the computer said it likely came from a woman who pretends to fight child porn and is notorious for suh actions. Or quite possibly one of the large child porn rings tried to fry my computer. Which is why I brought up the possibility of someone sending a virus against someone who has views diffirent to those. I might be thinking too much along the lines of terrorists attacking those who do not share their beliefs, but I wouold have considered it feasible.
 
Your friend doesn't know anything about virii either then Phil :p Virii are not targeted at any individual in particular. They are meant to cause more wide spread havoc. I wouldn't worry about someone intentionally trying to send you a virus.
 
Yeah okay. It was the Win32 one from memory, that stuffed up Windows and fried my modem. Still, it was feasible to have come from somewhere else.
 
It did what?!

A computer virus cannot damage hardware. Well there are some instances in the beginning of the computer due to extremely bad hardware design, but software cannot damage hardware that wasn't faulty (or poorly cooled) to begin with.

As far as getting a virus as revenge goes - I dunno. Might indeed be that some people would do that. I certainly know people that have used virus creation software in DOS times (and earlier). Should have some of it still lying around I think. *shrug* Just don't open/run anything you don't know know the sender and have scanned it... Except two times, once where I had to rescue valuable data on an infected PC and once when TECH SUPPORT tried to infect my PC I never needed an AV package.

As far as that Sobig epedemy goes. You migth be aware of a recent study that says that everyone knows everyone on the internet via a chain of 6 people on average. Now if you look at the tons of Sobigs one gets you often realize that they all come from the same 2 or 3 computers (no, I am not talking about the fake from lines here - trace them back to their true origin ISP). Now all it takes is two people that know each other where one got your e-mail and that are stupid enough to open attachements. Voila they bounce the virus between them and send you one on the way each time. I for my part started mailing the ISPs of the main 3 people that sent me the sobig and maybe an hour later no new virus mails appeared.
 
However it happened, the modem was fried I was told. Ah well, these days I advise against getting involved in what I used to be involved with. For your safety, certainly; it's on par with the drug trade in my book. But moreover you will find that the people ho fight it are questionable in their sanity. I am talking Looney Toons here.

That stuff on the Sabig was very interesting, and if I come across someone trying to send me a virus again, I'll press for more information on tracing the true sender of the virus.
 
Probably just a bad coincidence.
But TBH I'd happily trade the possibility of a fried modem for the chance to bust a child porn provider.
 
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