SoBig Legacy?!

[Laurie]

According to a Reuters story I just read, the SoBigF
virus continues...

Computer security experts raced to beat the clock on
Friday as the super-potent Sobig.F email virus threatened
to unleash a crippling barrage of data across the
Internet.

A frantic global hunt was under way from the United
States to South Korea to find and switch off 20 home
computers with high-speed broadband connections that were
due to be targeted by hundreds of thousands of computers
infected by Sobig.F at 3 p.m. EDT on Friday.

Security experts discovered only late on Thursday that
the Sobig.F virus, which has sown panic since Monday by
infecting Windows systems and using them to send a deluge
of junk mail, was harboring a sinister secret.

Hidden within the virus is an instruction to the infected
machines to make contact at 3 p.m. EDT with the 20
computers, which host an unidentified program.

"The problem is we don't know what that program is. It
could mean a smiley face dances across your screen or it
could be something massive," said Carole Theriault, anti-
virus consultant at Sophos Anti-Virus. "It's still under
the control of the virus writer."

Even if the mystery program is a harmless gag, the sheer
volume of Internet data converging on the 20 computer
targets could slow the Internet to a crawl.

The time trigger is set to be activated again at the same
time on Sunday, August 24.

The search for the owners of the 20 machines -- to get
them to disconnect before the deadline -- has had some
success.

"We've taken more than half offline," said Mikko
Hypponen, anti-virus research manager at Finland's F-
Secure. "But if one is left standing, there will be an
attack."


SO, now my question is, I have installed the patch, run
Norton, and Installed Zone Alarm (a 3rd party firewall),
is this thing still on my computer?! Is there anything
else I need to do?! I hate computers more everyday! It
is hard to like a machine that is smarter than I am!!
Please advise.

 

[Mike Mulligan]

If your computer is now completely free of all viruses, worms and other
malicious software, and you

* visit Windows Update regularly and install all critical security
patches (at least);

* have installed anti-virus software, use it correctly and keep it up to
date;

* have installed a firewall and configured it correctly; and

* follow safe computing practices

then you never have to worry about viruses, worms or Trojans. If, in
addition, you perform regular backups, you never have to worry about
anything - at least, nothing that has to do with a computer.

Whoever is not inclined to do these basic things - and I'm not saying this
about you - should not be using a computer (unless they have both time and
money to waste).

Mike Mulligan

 

[Laurie]

Thanks, I feel better now. It is really hard for
the "common man", or woman in this case, to stay up with
all of this technical information. I have done, and will
continue to do everything you mentioned. I just needed
to make sure that this thing is not still hiding
somewhere deep within this dang machine.

 

[Ken Pinard]

Nothing to worry about until another hole is found in MS OSs.

From what you say, we should all be a slave to the updates and networking
issues requried by MS. Unfortunately, most people do not have an MSCE
certification in windows networking.

What needs to be done is more rigurous proscution of these criminals (note
not hackers but criminals) whether it is for fun or milicious.

Everyone should be able to use the computer with out fear of attack, just
like being able to walk down the street with out fear. Just because the
internet is an open highway doesn't mean that people who are not armed
should stay home and not venture out.

While your advice is good, your comments sound like someone who feels that
virus writers and users should have the same space as everyone else on the
net. And anyone who is not aware of updates deserves to be attacked. This is
the attitude that fuels these criminals.

Ken