[ news_security_news ]
Instant Messaging Becomes Instant Virusing
John Stith
Staff Writer
2005-09-30
 Insider Reports RSS Feed
"Lol, ha, check this out." This is the last message you saw on your instant messenger from your girlfriend. You click on it. Now you've got an ITD. What's an ITD you ask? It's an Internet Transmitted Disease. Don't feel bad though. Lots of people get them. With a little help, you can get it cured too.
A recent story in DiamondBack, the University of Maryland's student newspaper, discussed the misadventures of some students who got a little excited and forgot protection. Now, they've got a virus and it's shutting their system down.
These social diseases seem to be contagious as the university's IT office told the Diamondback dozens of reports of a bot infecting dorm computers had been coming in and it was the highest number of viruses they'd seen in several years.
The problem their IT office has is students clicking on suspicious links and it's not limited to universities. Anyone who uses any IM service could have problems. The links get popped into a standard conversation and people just assume it's from whomever they're conversing with. In reality, they don't know where the link came from.
But how was I to know
That she'd been shuffled before
Said she'd never had a Royal Flush
But I should have known
That all the cards were comin'
From the bottom of the pack
And if I'd known what she was dealin' out
I'd have dealt it back
She's got the Jack
She's got the Jack
The problem of instant messaging viruses has been around for quite some time. The only real solution is not to click on those links. Even then, bugs can still creep in. While the problems at Maryland focused on AOL's instant messenger, all of them have had problems.
Back in July, a Kelvir variant would go into people's MSN IM client and figure out which language they were using, English, Dutch or otherwise. Then it would get used against them by providing a link in their own language. A number of people get suckered that way.
Just like biological social diseases, this isn't really a laughing matter as the viruses, worms and bots steal information, create problems and in many cases force a computer shutdown. Many people rely on their computers for business, communication and entertainment. While various groups and organizations work to prevent these problems, it remains imperative that the users pay attention and try and prevent these diseases from happening themselves.
About the Author:
John is a staff writer for SecurityProNews covering cyber security.
More news_security_news Articles
Insider Reports RSS Feed
|
|
iEntry 10th Anniversary
RSS
Archive
