OT Jonathan Kay: September 2003, Cumulative Patch

[Mark Rowell]

Jonathan,

I know this is somewhat off-topic but I'd like you to confirm something for me.

In the last few days I've received a bunch (10-15) e-mails that looked like they were official Microsoft e-mails. They had various subjects like "Newest Pack" or "Latest Upgrade" and had an 106KB attachment called either "update.exe" or "install.exe".

The text was always the same and read:
"this is the latest version of security update, the "September 2003, Cumulative Patch" update which eliminates all known security vulnerabilities affecting MS Internet Explorer, MS Outlook and MS Outlook Express as well as three newly discovered vulnerabilities. Install now to maintain the security of your computer from these vulnerabilities, the most serious of which could allow an malicious user to run code on your computer. This update includes the functionality of all previously released patches."

Are these e-mails actually from Microsoft or are the attachments probably a virus of some kind?

Thanks,
Mark

 

[Fitz]

You don't need a MVP to answer that...it's a virus named W32.Swen.A.
There are numerous articles on it, plus the major anti-virus vender websites
have detailed descriptions of how it works, what it does, and how to get rid
of it.

 

[Mark Rowell]

Thanks Fritz,

I figured it was a virus of some kind so always just deleted it. Of course
I just saw someone forwarded one of the e-mails to this group with the
attachments.

Mark