Virus Warning!

[belgareth]

Spammers\' Scavenging

E-Mail Virus Surfaces on Net



LONDON (Reuters) - A new computer virus capable of harvesting millions of

e-mail addresses from infected PCs was rapidly spreading across the Internet Monday, security experts said.



The infection, known as \"Bagle\" or \"Beagle,\" appears to be the handiwork of spammers keen to collect a

batch of e-mail addresses they can then re-sell to other spam e-mail marketers or keep for their own use.



\"Bagle\" also contains code that could turn an infected computer into a veritable \"spamming\" machine.



Security experts said it is patterned after the recent \"Sobig\" and \"Mimail\" outbreaks, which also turned

scores of computers into zombie machines that spammers can control remotely to send torrents of get-rich-quick and

sex aid messages to other computer users.

\"It seems perfectly possible that Bagle is yet another worm written

by spammers. When they have enough infected computers, they could automatically install invisible e-mail proxy

servers on each machine and start spamming through them,\" said Mikko Hypponen, research manager at Finnish

anti-virus firm F-Secure.

A host of virus-detection firms had placed their most severe ratings on the e-mail,

noting it was spreading quickly from Asia through Europe and now to the United States.

The e-mail infection, or

worm, contains a familiar subject line of \"Hi\" and an executable file attachment identified by \".exe.\" The

body of the e-mail contains random characters.

The virus is triggered once a computer user clicks on the

attachment, setting in motion an aggressive e-mail harvesting program that scans all documents on the infected

computer and throughout the network it is attached to.

Computer analysts said most corporate e-mail filters

should be able to block the infected e-mail, but that home users were particularly vulnerable.

[abductor]

One reason that I use

Linux in my personal computer!

[img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]
</font><blockquote><font

class=\"small\">Quote:</font><hr />

yet another email-borne worm affecting MS Windows. Bagle spreads via email,

following the opening of an attachment. Sound familiar? Bagle comes as a standard email from a random mail address

with 15kb attachment, the subject line of which is imaginatively titled \'Test\'. The creative energy continues

undiluted in the body of the message with the unsigned phrase \'Test, yep\'. Should anyone be silly enough to

open the randomly-named attachment, Bagle copies itself to the system directory under the name \'bbeagle.exe\',

and registers the following file in the registry:

[HKLM\\SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion \\Run] \"d3update.exe\"=\"%system%\\bbeagle.exe\"

Once lodged in the registry, bagle runs \"calc.exe\", before attempting to download and execute

\"TrojanProxy.Win32.Mitgleider\" from a variety of remote websites. The worm has a built-in expiry date of January

28.

<hr /></blockquote><font class=\"post\">
</font><blockquote><font class=\"small\">Quote:</font><hr

/>

Incredible. When I first heard about this virus, I thought, \"No way. This
one is too lame. No one will

fall for it.\" I guess I shouldn\'t
underestimate the gullibility of users.

I can\'t can\'t fathom why

anyone would open an attachment on a message with a
subject line of \'Test\'.


<hr /></blockquote><font

class=\"post\">

[DZorro]

</font><blockquote><font class=\"small\">Quote:</font><hr />
Spammers\' Scavenging E-Mail Virus Surfaces on

Net



LONDON (Reuters) - A new computer virus capable of harvesting millions of e-mail addresses from

infected PCs was rapidly spreading across the Internet Monday, security experts said.

The infection, known as

\"Bagle\" or \"Beagle,\" appears to be the handiwork of spammers keen to collect a batch of e-mail addresses

they can then re-sell to other spam e-mail marketers or keep for their own use.

\"Bagle\" also contains code

that could turn an infected computer into a veritable \"spamming\" machine.

Security experts said it is

patterned after the recent \"Sobig\" and \"Mimail\" outbreaks, which also turned scores of computers into zombie

machines that spammers can control remotely to send torrents of get-rich-quick and sex aid messages to other

computer users.

\"It seems perfectly possible that Bagle is yet another worm written by spammers. When they

have enough infected computers, they could automatically install invisible e-mail proxy servers on each machine and

start spamming through them,\" said Mikko Hypponen, research manager at Finnish anti-virus firm F-Secure.

A

host of virus-detection firms had placed their most severe ratings on the e-mail, noting it was spreading quickly

from Asia through Europe and now to the United States.

The e-mail infection, or worm, contains a familiar

subject line of \"Hi\" and an executable file attachment identified by \".exe.\" The body of the e-mail contains

random characters.

The virus is triggered once a computer user clicks on the attachment, setting in motion an

aggressive e-mail harvesting program that scans all documents on the infected computer and throughout the network it

is attached to.

Computer analysts said most corporate e-mail filters should be able to block the infected

e-mail, but that home users were particularly vulnerable.





<hr /></blockquote><font

class=\"post\">

Well that explaines the e-mail i got yesterday, it goes like this.

Virus Alert

From:

yahoo.com\'s Internet Virus Department

We have detected a possible computer virus on your computer, You must

open the details of the report within 24 hours our we will be forced to shut down your internet service.

Please

Click Below Then Press \"open\" To View The Report If you do not open this report in 24 hours we will suspend your

internet service If nothing apears on your virus report please dis-regard this message

i left the link out, cause

i\'m not that stupid to click on it though, but i guess some people will fall for it anyway.


DZorro,