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New MyDoom Worm Variant Poses For Pictures
Jeremy Muncy
Contributing Writer
2004-08-18
 Insider Reports RSS Feed
For the moment, the newest member of the rapid growing MyDoom family goes by the name "MyDoom-S". This edition spreads through an e-mail claiming to contain funny pictures.
 | | MyDoom has a photo session... |  |
California based McAfee, Inc. rated the new worm as a medium risk. For the worm to strike, a computer user must open the infected email attachment.
"Companies should educate their users to practice safe computing. That includes never opening unsolicited email attachments and discouraging the sending and receiving of joke files and funny photographs and screensavers," Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Lynnfield, Mass.-based Sophos, said in a statement.
Microsoft Pushes Back SP2… Again! Microsoft is pushing back the distribution of the Windows XP Service Pack 2 by at least nine days.
"Microsoft is preparing to release a free update for Windows XP that provides better protection against hackers, viruses, and worms. The best way to ensure you get Windows XP Service Pack 2 when it is released is by turning on Automatic Updates today," according to a statement on Microsoft.com. Microsoft released Service Pack 2 to PC manufacturers on 6 August after several delays.
An interesting article at ZDNet expands on this topic.
Survey: One In 12 Emails Contain A Virus. Email users better learn which emails to open and which to leave alone. Internet security firm MessageLabs said, "one in every 12 emails it scanned between January and June contained a virus designed to infect computers and cause havoc".
During that same time frame last year the rate was one in every 208 emails, while in 2002 it was one in 392, according to Scotsman.com.
"The boundaries between viruses and spam have been eroded, and commercial gain would seem to be the driving force," said Paul Wood, chief information security analyst at MessageLabs
Jericho Forum Hopes To Set Security Standards. The Jericho Forum was established earlier this year to help the industry anticipate security standards and software needs. The group meets next week.
Martin Brampton in an article at Silicon.com editorializes, "I hope that the Jericho Forum is more than just good intentions. To succeed, it will have to persuade its members to come up with substantial amounts of cash and create viable standards groups. It will also have to bring about a shift in the whole culture of technology development. Can it overcome the many hurdles standing in its way?" ZDNet.com has more on this subject.
Adware Gets Attention of IT Executives. "It's an insidious scourge of the Internet" says Lisa Hagen, IT manager at biotechnology manufacturing firm Labcyte in Sunnyvale, Calif. "These are pieces of software that get installed unbeknownst to you," NetworkWorldFusion reported.
"Marketing adware has brought about legal debate related to issues such as consent, privacy and free speech that arose years ago with so-called cookies", says Mark Rasch, senior vice president and chief security counsel at managed security services firm Solutionary.
Mark goes on to say in an article in NetworkWorldFusion, "but what's really bad about spyware is that most people can't reasonably know what's going on - and that the stuff gums up their computer," he says. "Corporations need to inform the user on the issue of consent and what spyware is and what it's doing. And they should make anti-spyware available to block it."
Computer Associates to begin Patrolling for Pests. Computer Associates has recently acquired PestPatrol. CA plans to incorporate the PestPatrol products into its eTrust Threat Management software suite. CA's acquisition of PestPatrol was the second most notable in the security software market recently following McAfee's $86 million purchase of vulnerability management software maker Foundstone. An article at NetworkWorldFusion expands on this topic.
About the Author:
Jeremy Muncy is a staff writer for WebProNews.com
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