New lines of attack from virus spewer.

[Adam A. Wanderer]

I received a fairly convincing e-mail this morning from the virus spammer,
seeming to be from my ISP, telling me my account had expired, and asking me
to read an attachment explaining. This is a new method I haven't seen
before. My Norton AV did catch it. But, this does show how determined the
writer is, and just how far he/she is willing to go; this took a lot of
time, energy and imagination. Bottom line, this thing isn't going to stop
on it's own. Until this person or these people are caught, our e-mail boxes
are going to be almost useless.

Does anyone know if anything is being done to track down these SOBs?

 

[FromTheRafters]

I received a fairly convincing e-mail this morning from the virus spammer,
seeming to be from my ISP, telling me my account had expired, and asking me
to read an attachment explaining.
http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/[email protected]

This is a new method I haven't seen before.

It's an interesting exploit. I think this one is better than swen from
a technical standpoint ~ I doubt the writer was Begbie - it's too
good.

My Norton AV did catch it. But, this does show how determined the
writer is, and just how far he/she is willing to go; this took a lot of
time, energy and imagination.

More than most people realize, I'm sure.

Bottom line, this thing isn't going to stop
on it's own. Until this person or these people are caught, our e-mail boxes
are going to be almost useless.

Once unleashed, they act on their own (in most cases), catching
the culprits won't affect the worms that were already released.
It will continue until the environment they exist in becomes too
hostile for them ~ not any time soon.

Does anyone know if anything is being done to track down these SOBs?

Many organizations are trying to identify the individuals responsible
for unleashing worms and viruses, the US's FBI for one. I'm sure
that other countries' and international organizations are "on the case"
too.

 

[Adam A. Wanderer]

I hope they get caught in Singapore! They have a "way" of dealing with
naughty kids.

 

[Tom Horsley]

My Norton AV did catch it. But, this does show how determined the

More than most people realize, I'm sure.

Ah, but some people just enjoy writing useless but challenging computer
programs. The Linux community likes to brag about their 900 billion
lines (or whatever the number is) of open source developed without
any funding, but they don't mention that 800 billion of those lines
are screensavers . Viruses have to be a more interesting thing than
screensavers to squander talent on. Whatever stops it is going to be
a technological solution, not a law enforcement one.

(Personally, I'd welcome going back to the days of email containing
nothing but plain text .

 

[FromTheRafters]

I hope they get caught in Singapore! They have a "way" of dealing with
naughty kids.

I've been there, and I obeyed their laws having heard of "The Rattan":

http://www.wccusd.k12.ca.us/stc/ethical/singapore.htm

 

[FromTheRafters]

Ah, but some people just enjoy writing useless but challenging computer
programs.

I used to enjoy trying to make the Commodore do something
basically useless ~ via the user port, some transistors, and some
relays. Yes, it is the challenge that counted.

[snip]

Viruses have to be a more interesting thing than
screensavers to squander talent on.

Graphics routines are fun too. Maybe that's why payloads
often contained them.

Whatever stops it is going to be
a technological solution, not a law enforcement one.

I think so too, that is, if any solution is possible.

(Personally, I'd welcome going back to the days of email containing
nothing but plain text .

...but that would spoil all of the fun. ;o)

 

[Bart Bailey]

In
Message-ID:<4%[email protected]>

(Personally, I'd welcome going back to the days of email containing
nothing but plain text .

Those days never left if you use a non HTML client like Forte Agent.

 

[Thomas A. Horsley]

(Personally, I'd welcome going back to the days of email containing

Those days never left if you use a non HTML client like Forte Agent.

I know *I* can get just plain text (in fact, I do - I use emacs to
read mail and have all the mime processing disabled). What I need
is to force everyone else to do it so they stop clicking on the
attached viruses .
--email: (e-mail address removed) icbm: Delray Beach, FL |
<URL:http://home.att.net/~Tom.Horsley> Free Software and Politics <<==+