Virus in the fishkeeper community and i dont mean fish!

[April]

ok..seems tons of emails are circulating saying hi or hello or testing..and attachments. i got one..and now my scan says i caught mydoom.. :o
so...scanning. but.. if it starts going through our members who are on each others mailing lists.. it will spread like wildfire.
so..be careful which emails you open. and if not sure ask the person if they sent one.
so be careful all you fish people. if its not a fish virus..its a computer virus we all can share!! quarantine quarantine quarantine. ::)

[chirohorn]

I got a message a few days back from Ryan saying he was sent an email w/a virus attached from me!? AND he's not even on my list of contacts. ??? I was bewildered, but he stated that 'advanced' viruses can scan a contact list, choose one & make it appear as if they were the original sender.

I even use a yahoo address that scans email attachments sent & received for viruses. So it coudn't have been me. The lesson: NEVER open an attachment that you weren't expecting.

MYDOOM E-MAIL VIRUS COMING FROM FRIENDLY
E-MAIL ADDRESSES

January 27, 2004 - Nerds On Site is advising all users of e-mail services to be on the lookout for the latest Worm Virus MYDOOM. It may also go by the name MIMAIL, SHIMAG or NOVARG depending on which anti-virus program a user has in place. This worm virus is reaching outbreak levels and may be heading your way soon.

MYDOOM is a mass-mailing worm that is starting to flood e-mail servers the world over. If users do not take the proper precautions the ramifications on both e-mail and Internet services could be devastating.

This virus will grab e-mail addresses from a user's system if they become infected and it will also randomly generate e-mail addresses, when it sends out its message to people it will spoof the users address and fool people into thinking that the e-mail came from a legitimate user. The email will have the following characteristics:

From: may be a spoofed from address
Subject:
test
hi
hello
Mail Delivery System
Mail Transaction Failed
Server Report
Status
Error

Message:
Mail transaction failed. Partial message is available.
The message contains Unicode characters and has been sent as a binary attachment.
The message cannot be represented in 7-bit ASCII encoding and has been sent as a binary attachment.

Attachment:
document
readme
doc
text
file
data
test
message
body

with one of the following suffixes:
pif
scr
exe
cmd
bat
zip



The virus arrives as an attachment commonly in a .zip format but may also arrive as a .exe, .pif, .cmd, or .scr file format and will have a file size of 22,528 bytes or 22.5 Kilobytes. It will use an icon that will make it appear to be a plain-text document which under normal circumstances would be perfectly safe to open and read. However, in this situation it most certainly is not safe to open.

Various precautions can be implemented, the most imperative of which is that users ensure that they have active and up-to-date anti-virus software running on their computer systems. If a user becomes infected with this virus it can be removed. If they are unable to perform this action themselves we advise that the user contact a technical support organization immediately. Both pay and non-pay anti-virus software packages are available and we at Nerds On Site advise that all users take a proactive approach and maintain active and up-to-date anti-virus software on all computers.

[Ardan]

http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/w32.novarg.a@mm.html
http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/w32.novarg.a@mm.removal.tool.html

these might help in ID and removal

hth

[wildthing]

Get a Mac!
:)

[April]

Lol..wildthing.. your still on that mac kick then are you??
welll..no mac for me. but yes .. thats the virus. it even chooses names.. then guesses at endings.

[ronrca]

I got quite a few e-mails with this virus already. I never open suspicious e-mail to begin with from address's that I have never seen before or vague messages. ;) Be sure to delete and not open the attachments!

[henryD]

LOL...David....see the problem with getting a MAC is...

Everyone will switch to it and then the virus will start targeting MACS. We are then back to square one. Prevention is the key. Get a good anitvirus program and keep it updated. Unplug yourself from the web when your not on. and never talk to strangers. .....Ah I mean don't open weird emails.

Henry

PS...I love MACS. Been a MAC user since the Apple IIc.....

[ronrca]

I just received another virus e-mail.

Subject : Thank you very very much
Message :
That you've killed this *******.
Your reward:

Attachment: reward.pif

My antivirus caught it right away! Whew!

Virus name: W23.Sober.C@mm
>:(

[oodi]

Hi gang,

One of the key things here is... MAKE SURE YOU KEEP YOUR ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE UPDATED!!!

If it's not updated, you might as well not have it. Keeping it updated probably requires that you subscribe... yes, that means that it will cost you $$$. But if you don't do it, you might as well not have it. I've known some people that thought that because their computers came with anti-virus software (usually Norton or McAfee), that that was all they needed... NOT TRUE! You will only be able to get updates for a certain period of time... after that, it's useless.

Here is the link to a free program called Mail Washer that is good for spam, and for previewing email before it is actually downloaded on your computer... you can bounce those spam emails back to the dipwads that sent them. However, I do NOT recomend it as a substitute for anti-virus protection... just an extra precaution.

http://www.mailwasher.net/

HTH,

Judi
:)

[KEVINT]

if your computer has McAfee you can update it here.

http://us.mcafee.com/default.asp

kevin

[Mr. Limpet]

I just ran across this on Hotdealsclub.com. Not too many hackers back then. I thought you guys would get a smile out of it. Paul.

Flashback: It was 20 years ago this week that Apple introduced its new computer, the Macintosh. Steve Jobs' public demonstration on Jan 30, 1984:
"Its Motorola 68000 cranks along at 8 megahertz and processes over a million instructions a second." With a theatrical flourish, Jobs unzipped the fabric case and lifted the Macintosh out of the bag. An instant later he had connected the power cord, the keyboard, and the mouse. He switched on the computer. The screen over Jobs' head turned sky blue. "All the images you see," he said, "are generated by the Mac." Jobs looked at the blank screen. "Ah, yes," he said. "We need a disk." He reached in his shirt pocket and pulled a tiny 3 1/2-inch disk out and waved it at the audience. Jobs inserted the disk in the computer. The letters M - A - C - I - N - T - O - S - H marched one by one, across the Mac's screen and across the giant screen above the stage. The letters marched in time to the theme from Chariots of Fire that blared from the stage's gigantic speakers. "And now," Steve said, "'a word from Mac." He gestured to the computer. Mac came suddenly to life. "Thank you, Steve," it said. Its voice was mechanical and computer-like, but it was easy to understand and strangely imbued with personality.
The personal computer had a 32 bit 8 megahertz processor, a built-in 3.5" disk drive capable of holding 320 KBytes of data, a 9" black&white display, 64k ROM, and 128k RAM memory.

And there was a famous commercial that aired on the Superbowl of 1984, and makes references to the George Orwell book "1984". Yes, the woman in the commercial is carrying an iPod since Apple recently edited the original video.
see other recent information involving: computers

[Ryan]

Over the past 4 days I have gotten mass amounts of these virus attachments. They all show up as being from members of this board, but as the virus description above states, the virus just plugs in random addresses from an infected persons' contacts and uses them as the sender. So though you may appear to get a virus from someone in particular, it is unlikely that the virus actually came from that person.

The best line of defense is to update (and if you don't have it, install) anti-virus software and make sure to either scan your e-mails automatically or manually before opening and reading them. Prevention is the best fix, but those who have virus scan software installed also may want to make sure their software is up to date, then scan your entire drive as a precaution. Sometimes you have worm viruses that you are not aware of.

Ryan

[Wahter]

ok..seems tons of emails are circulating saying hi or hello or testing..and attachments. i got one..and now my scan says i caught mydoom.. :o
so...scanning. but.. if it starts going through our members who are on each others mailing lists.. it will spread like wildfire.
so..be careful which emails you open. and if not sure ask the person if they sent one.
so be careful all you fish people. if its not a fish virus..its a computer virus we all can share!! quarantine quarantine quarantine. ::)


April, you need to set your anti-virus program to get the updates automatically (aren't you using Norton anti-virus? - their updates come out every Wednesday of every week - That's how frequently new computer viruses are discovered!). Didn't you just get a new PC? Or you need to stop opening so many attachments in email! Everyone loves surprise presents, but not if it's a computer virus! :o :o

[lesley]

Hi guys,

If your anti-virus is only updating once a week, then you need to be ensuring that you are not only relying on it to stop any worms or viruses. These come out hourly, they surely don't wait for your weekly update. Until they start infecting someone, the anti virus people don't know they are there.

Make sure that your email program does not have the "preview" window showing (the one that lets you see an email without opening the email). Just viewing some of these virus/worms/trojans can install them.

My anti virus program (VET anti virus) issues updates at least daily, and I still delete a lot of emails "just in case". I delete anything with an attachment that is coming from someone I don't know. If I am not expecting an attachment from a friend I email them to ask if they have sent me anything before I play with it (unless it is obvious from the subject line that they are enclosing something (need to know the person). I don't open anything that says "warning" etc. I now delete all emails that even appear to be any form of advertising.

One variant of the Doom virus can record your keystrokes, so if you are using your computer for banking or buying online and using your credit card, your details are "hacked".

I fear that the vicious scum who generate these things will eventually kill the internet for us all.

[April]

walter.. the only reason i opened it was cause it was on a webbased email and my server guy usually strips them off. and it was from a member here. and,.. i do update and just had.
think i got it off..so not sure. still says im meant to remove one file and it cant be deleted. or..got more since yesterday??
and yes its a nwe puter. henry built it for me and its a great computer!!!

[Wahter]

And don't forget to check your PC for Spyware too!

[April]

no spyware on my puter walter!! it gets removed weekly. ;D

[lesley]

April,

this link below gives a file to removal of the doom virus and/or shows you how to remove it manually. You may need to do the manual removal.
Henry will be able to help you?

http://www.f-secure.com/v-descs/novarg.shtml

You could also "system restore" to a week ago to a time when before the virus was found. (don't forget to update your anti virus again).

hth, Lesley

Excellent advice, Lesley! Any emails appearing as an advertisement -- DELETE THEM COMPLETELY! Emails with attachment seemingly addressed as a personal message to you, DELETE THEM COMPLETELY, especially if you do not recognize the address.

This is a sure safeguard from receiving computer bugs.

I am beginning to wonder now if the individual is the same as the one who's been hacking Simply. Uhm...

So far I haven't received this bug. But if I do, I will certainly CLOUT it out.

Thanks, April for the posting.