Articles Index
Conficker: More Conflict than Worm
Barely a week after the 60 Minutes April Fools' Conficker doomsday update failed to materialize, the closely watched Conflicker.C did finally manage an update. And in an ironic twist, the worm itself debunks much of the hype surrounding it.
PowerPoint Zero Day Vulnerability In-the-Wild
Microsoft has released Security Advisory 969136 warning of a newly discovered zero day PowerPoint vulnerability. The flaw impacts PowerPoint versions found in Windows versions of Office 2000, 2002, 2003, and Office 2004 for Mac.
60 Minutes, Conficker, and April's Fool
Is the Conficker worm set to detonate some evil payload on April 1st? According to 60 Minutes, it seems so. Here's the non-FUD behind the Conficker worm.
Winthb 'Virus' Tied to Backdoor Trojans
A family of backdoor and autorun trojans are working together to plague users. One symptom that may appear - the drive volume name and icon may be changed. The more insiduous aspects of the infection are far more silent and may be overlooked when users attempt manual removal.
A Storm of Scary Email
In recent weeks, a rash of spam has been sent that bear much resemblance to the all-too-familiar tactics of the Storm botnet.
What is JS/Psyme (and How to Get Rid of It)
Many users have experienced repeated warnings of infection by Psyme each time they open their browser. Depending on the antivirus in use, the name given in the warning may be any of the following: Downloader.Psyme (Symantec), Troj/Psyme (Sophos), Trojan.VBS.KillAV (Kaspersky), TrojanDownloader.VBS.Psyme (CA),Trojan.Downloader.JS.Psyme (Kaspersky), VBS/Petch.A (F-Prot), VBS/Psyme (McAfee)
What is the Storm Worm?
The so-called Storm worm is actually not a worm, but rather a family of Trojans that typically include a backdoor, SMTP relay, P2P communications, email harvester, downloader, and often a rootkit.
U.Z.A. O/S Eliminator Worm
The so-called "U.Z.A. O/S Eliminator" worm appears to have originated in Maldives sometime in late July or early August 2007. The worm exploits the autorun feature, enabling it to spread from removable USB/thumb drives to other computers.
Freedom / Outlaw Worm
The Freedom 'virus' is a worm that infects local and USB drives, disables access to Task Manager, Registry Editor and other system utilities, and may try to delete MP3 files found on infected systems. Here's how to clean it.
Ransomware: Trojans Demand Money From Victims
Having your computer infected with a virus or other malicious software is upsetting enough. But over the past year, a new type of attack promises to be even more disconcerting. Dubbed ransomware, this new attack infects the system, encrypts the files, and then demands payment from its victims.
Trojan.MeSpam Makes You the Spammer
Instead of relying on bots to do the dirty work, Trojan.MeSpam makes you the culprit. Once infected, every forum post you make, every webmail you send, and every blog comment you leave will also deposit a link pointing to a nefarious website.
Rinbot Worm Prompts Repeated Denials
Is Rinbot the little worm that isn't? Or is it simply the worm that no one wants to acknowledge exists? Here's a timeline of this "non-threat".
Skype Chatosky Worm: Friend or Foe?
Thanks to the Chatosky worm, I uncovered some things about the Skype service that I might not otherwise have known.
Anna Kournikova Virus Spreads With Record Speeds
Anna Kournikova virus spreads with record speeds
Britney No Match for Kournikova
Britney pics no match for Anna Kournikova
Qspace Javascript Worm Targets MySpace Users
MySpace users are yet again a victim of another targeted attack. Dubbed JS_QSPACE.A by antivirus vendor Trend Micro and JS.Qspace by Symantec, the Javascript worm exploits a cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability embedded in a malicious Quicktime .MOV file.
Evaman.c worm
Despite the clear connection to the Evaman family of worms, a small number of antivirus vendors are classifying Evaman.c as a MyDoom variant.
Rontokbro aka Brontok Worm
A mass-mailing email worm that also spreads via USB and thumb drives, the Rontokbro worm - also know as Brontok - takes a multifacted approach to defy detection and removal.
VML FUD FAQ
There's a lot of misinformation being disseminated around the recently discovered VML vulnerability. Here's an attempt to address those misconceptions and alleviate some of the fears.
Zero-Day VML Vulnerability Impacts IE, Windows
A zero-day vulnerability in the Windows implementation of Vector Markup Language (VML) impacts all supported versions of Internet Explorer, all supported versions of Microsoft Windows 2003, Windows XP, and Windows 2000, and recent versions of Outlook and Outlook Express.
Are You in a Botnet?
With 12 million infected systems under their control, botnet operators are controlling a population rougly the size of Guatemala.
In fact, the number of infected systems would place it at about 70 out of 230 sovereign states and territories worldwide.
Popular Antivirus Apps *Do* Work
The more a story gets told, the more the original story gets changed by each new storyteller. Sometimes, the story gets so far removed from the original, that the entire intent of the story is lost and new intent construed. Such is the case with the story of antivirus effectiveness, which was recently put through the spin cycle, wrung out, and reformed by Charlie White, editor of the Gizmodo gadget blog.
McAfee Downplays Security Flaws
Vulnerability researchers at eEye Digital uncovered serious flaws in McAfee security products that could allow attackers to gain remote control of affected systems.
Yahoo worm: JS/Yamanner
An early-morning report on a security mailing list led to the discovery of Yamanner, a mass-mailing email worm that impacted Yahoo webmail users.
Gamblers Lose Big with Free Tool
Every successful gambler knows how to handle a certain amount of risk, and how to minimize their losses. But a free tool that promised to help gamblers get the most out of the game turned out to be a Trojan that scammed them out of their winnings.