Warning Possible Virus!

[Cory]

About 15 minutes ago all of the sudden I started to get responses from people's away messages who I had never IM'ed, as well as cell phones. Within minutes, 30 or so people were all IM'ing me talking about some weird stuff I'd never heard of.

Apparently, somehow, something sent out an instant message to most everyone on my buddylist containing a link to some "capture osama" game. Im not sure what this could be except a virus, although my virus scanner didn't detect any viruses.

Just be on the lookout for something like this happening to you, and NEVER open any links that might be in such a message.

Cory

[Clark Gilbert]

Originally Posted by Cory

About 15 minutes ago all of the sudden I started to get responses from people's away messages who I had never IM'ed, as well as cell phones. Within minutes, 30 or so people were all IM'ing me talking about some weird stuff I'd never heard of.

Apparently, somehow, something sent out an instant message to most everyone on my buddylist containing a link to some "capture osama" game. Im not sure what this could be except a virus, although my virus scanner didn't detect any viruses.

Just be on the lookout for something like this happening to you, and NEVER open any links that might be in such a message.

Cory

I got some of those from some FIRST people too. Basically all you need to do is look on your start -> all programs menu and see that something like "buddylinks" or "buddygames" was installed and there should be a folder for it. I noticed this earlier today and there is a preferences program for it and it has a checkbox to automatically send out IMs about this game. Infact, the person I was getting them from sent me about 6 messages today. Once I noticed this I went into my Control Panel and removed the files. You may also want to look under your "program files" on your hard drive and remove the folder for it after you uninstall it.

[Katie Reynolds]

I got that IM from a FIRSTer a little while ago ... I clicked on the link but, after checking, nothing was installed on my computer. Maybe because I closed the window after I opened it, rather than going any further?

[Bharat Nain]

One good trick to follow is create a separate RESTRICTED account on your computer, and use that most of the time, except for when you really need to do administrating stuff. This has saved me tons of times from worms and viruses.

Another thing you can do is stop using Internet Explorer. It has about 30 bugs which microsoft cannot fix. Personally, I prefer using Mozilla.

I have also been getting messages like those from my friends. I think Ad-Aware has a scan for it. You can download ad-aware from www.lavasoftusa.com .

Hope that helps!

Regards,
-Bharat

[Jon Anderson]

Also, have you got the latest security patch from microsoft? There was a security exploit that may have been your problem.



"Microsoft Corp. today issued fixes for one "critical" and two "important" flaws in several versions of its Windows software, including Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003 under the company's monthly patch-update program. The critical flaw involves an unchecked buffer in Microsoft's Abstract Syntax Notation One (ASN.1) Library, which provides a generic way of representing data across different applications, according to Microsoft Security Bulletin MS04-007.

The vulnerability could allow hackers to take complete control of a compromised system to install malicious programs, modify or delete data, or create new administrative accounts. It affects a wide range of Windows software, including Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. "Because ASN.1 is a standard for many applications and devices, there are many potential attack vectors," the Microsoft advisory said. Particularly worrisome is the fact that the ASN library is widely used by Windows security subsystems, according to an advisory from eEye Digital Security, which uncovered the vulnerability. That could allow attackers to construct malformed authentication requests that could expose the vulnerability, said Mike Reavey, security program manager at Microsoft's security response center. As a result, he said, "we do strongly encourage our customers to apply this update."

You can update your Operating System by clicking on the Security Bulletin link at the end of the first paragraph. This will take you to Microsoft's security website where you will be able to download the security patch. We recommend you update your Microsoft Operating System as soon as possible."

Original story taken from Computerworld

Update can be found here.

[evulish]

One origination spot for it is wgutv.com. If someone sends you a link for that, or somewhere else on the page advertises 'buddylinks' close the page. It's not _reaally_ a virus, it's unharmful, but just very annoying

It's times like this I'm glad I have my Mac and my Linux desktop Also, hopefully everyone here runs Windows Update weekly. There have been some pretty big vulnerabilities lately that really _need_ patching. Plugging the hole beforehand is easier than getting rid of a virus/trojan.

Or, Do The Right Thing(tm) and buy a Mac

[Mike Heinowski]

Originally Posted by evulish

Or, Do The Right Thing(tm) and buy a Mac

I totally agree, although I have a pc at the moment I am planing to get a Mac when I get a job.

[The Lucas]

I had the stupid thing and instructions to get rid of it are here . Sorry if I gave it to anyone on my list.