Bondith --
If memory serves, it appeared in the wild on USENET as an attached executable, and behaved much like a traditional virus in infecting binaries the user had access to.
Some searching suggests that it looked for /etc/hosts.equiv, which would suggest an attempt to rsh and run itself on other systems that way.
Here's a link to F-Secure's page on it.

hey cool. I just got this e-mail with some funky attachment. I think I'll open it. Oh dang it won't run......cause I'm on a mac. =D suckers.

/graphic designer, my Dual G5 is faster than your PC

The third of software that is useful is what the mac runs.

PC users - think what it would be like if your whole OS was as slick as iTunes, and you'll get a glimpse of what it would be like to have a mac.

mac... pc.... christ at this point i think i could get away with an amiga.

/became a console gamer and hasn't used his pc for anything but browsing, and email in 6 months.

And here's a better site than the one listed in the headline: http://s­ecur­i­tyres­pons­e­symantecco­m/a­vce­n­ter/v­e­nc/data/w32my­doombmmhtm­l

Elrik

The nerds are pissed. Who's next ? RIAA ?

Hehehe I would LOVE to see an RIAA targetted virus, just something simple to say..destroy every computer they own mehehehehe.

And for those who haven't figured it out yet, the world is probibly >99% retard.

sdw3u

i would recommend going out and trying a mac. (like go to the apple store or something)

see if you like them. there's a lot of great things about the platform.

sdw3u
Yes. Switch. But don't forget about Linux.

There are some really good & user friendly distos out there. Stay away from Gentoo unless you really want to learn *a lot* about your hardware configuration. I've installed Mandrake, RedHat and Gentoo (working on getting iso's for Debian and SuSe) and the easiest install (and one with the best hw support) is Mandrake, IMHO.

Mac are nice if you have a fat bank account, though.

Who the hell opens attachments in this day and age???

...um, anyone who goes on to a p2p and clicks on the downloads...p2p distribution: the choice of a new generation.

And actually, they can work it so

a. the email is coming from someone who has you in the their address book, and

b. they mask the strange-looking filetypes and put somehting generic like "company-wide memo_012804"

even non-morons will sometimes take the bait, and besides, there's still plenty of less-than-intelligent people out there with computers and email accounts.

The sweetest computer is the one you get.

How many of you can remember when a computer of your very own was the Big Leagues?

You don't have to be all that old.

/goes to the store while Telengard loads from tape

Shinreineko:
[the world is probibly >99% retard]
Thanks for letting us know which part of the population includes you.

sdw3u: A serious question: (really)

I'm a PC user, have been for years. I notice how much Windows-bashing goes on, and agree with many points made by the bashers.

But I also notice that everyone in this thread keeps saying Macs suck.

Should I consider switching, or not?

I'm serious! Help!

First, consider what you currently do, and what you want to do with your computer.

Second, ask about these things at both an Apple Store (if you can't find an apple store, check out Apple's "Why Switch?" section) and a computer store that focuses on Windows computers. Ask for hands on demonstrations and ask questions, questions, questions!

The real important thing is to make as fully and informed decision as possible based on what your computer wants and needs are.

I use a Mac myself, but I can't tell you whether it's the right thing for you or not.

"Because the mac users are trying to justify paying $700 more for a computer than runs a third as much software."

I switched to a Mac last year. It cost me $50 more than the equivalent Dell box. It's worth $50 to me to have no worms, virii, or spyware. Your results may vary.

Oh, and the Mac runs every piece of software I am interested in using, including games. Your results may vary.

If you like Windows better, fine, but Mac really is just peachy for what most users need. I don't think I will switch back.

willwanka:
people run binaries they grabbed off p2p networks?
that's dumber than opening attachments.

fudgefactor7:

More likely these were written by professional spammers. Just look at the facts:

(1) They use sophisticated tricks to get the unwary to open the attachments. Spammers develop these kinds of techniques, script kiddies generally don't. The techniques being used are at the bleeding edge of spammer technology.

(2) The worm turns infected machines into zombie email relays, perfect for spam. Why would a disgruntled Linux user do that?

(3) The DDoS attacks have been almost universally condemned by the Linux community. This part of the worm seems more like an attempt to deflect blame to an enemy. Spammers hate Linux and the open source movement as much as anybody.

Clearly, it's the work of the spammers, trying to cover their tracks. And you fell for it (like most of the media).

2004-01-28 03:31:06 PM Brown


man, i seriously don't understand how people can say the mac sucks

Macs don't suck, but people who claim that Macs are impervious to viral attack are just wrong. There aren't as many Mac viruses simply because there aren't as many bitter, fat, sweating script kiddies redirecting all their hatred for life and their sexual frustration into writing viruses for the Mac

I own a mac, I just made the switch from PC. I LOVE IT.

Dual G5s, 2 GB of ram, 500 GB of hard drive space, no way I would switch back to PC.

Not to mention Mac os x is built on IMO one of the best OSs around... FreeBSD.

I still keep my old PC around to play star wars galaxies, but once I get bored with that, I'll probably give it away.

Anyway, macs have everything going for it...

/old mac hater now converted (yeah, os 9 blew)

Thanks for all the input; there's a Mac store about an hour from me - I'll head down this weekend and check things out.

Might go "bi." heh, heh.

I'm gonna start writing letters to people, on real paper. Maybe the odd telephone call. Radical, I know.

Why is it that big of a deal? Do you people NOT keep anti-virus up to date on your desktops and servers? This has really been a non-issue other than the 500+ users e-mails the whole ISD with "Do I have the virus" beacuse the virus spoofed their address from some other address book. Microsoft needs to just say fark it and include anti-virus software with the next SP for XP and 2k.

And so the cycle repeats, amen. You poor bastards in help desk that have to deal with these idiots should be allowed to instruct them to put the computer back in a the box it came in and throw it out of the nearest window. Then, ask them to eat a bullet for the collective evolution of man. Alternatively, blame Microsoft and praise the gods of open source that they might smite the evil Microsoft (and maybe use that back door for a few choice images and credit card numbers). Remember kids, bash Microsoft and support the liberators that have afflicted the stupid!

flubby
Does anyone know if KazaaLite spreads these viruses?

The virus places a copy of itself in the Kazaa "shared" directory, with a randomly selected, enticing filename. If KazaaLite uses the same registry key to identify the shared diredtory, then it probably will spread just as easilly that way.
See this article for more info (scroll down to the "Peer-to-Peer Spreading " section).

more people would write viruses for MACs/Linux if those machines existed in greater numbers at home.
but since most "joe users" want a computer that they know they can fix or upgrade or have their friends help them with.. they will go with Windows.

my mother thought about buying a Mac. thought. i told her when she has a problem/question.. who you going to turn to?
then my dad said he wanted to play games...
umm..
no Mac for j00.

i too am a Gamer.. Macs do not exist to me.
I am also a DoD employee... the biggest "company" in the world.. Macs do not exist to us.
I enjoy having a choice on hardware.. Macs do not exist to me.

mjgl
If I may ask, how much did you pay for that config? Since OSX, I've been interested in getting a Mac, but am trying to get my parents to drop some money on one first so I can take it for spin.

I, for one, as a salesman of anti-virus software, welcome our new, virus coding overlords.

I was playing with that mydoom.a virus & accidently infected my PC- but my firewall stopped it. And it wasn't very hard to remove. I just don't see what the big deal is.

/confused

Ant

Mac OS X, being built over FreeBSD (far more secure & stable than the aclaimed linux), is very secure. It would be very difficult to do any serious harm to it.

That, with the fact that the core is open source source and the automatic updates, I think it's got a lot going for it.

Never invulnerable, but pretty damn hardcore. Just use a little common sense, and you won't need to spend money on an anti-virus.


... oh and obscurity helps.

/starts processor intensive apps, looks at the CPU monitor and smiles...

oh, and anyone who feels the need to defend their consumer affiliation, or pre-emptively attack someone else's, really needs to reexamine their value system.

You're either a troll, or you place an unhealthy amount of importance on other people's opinions. Both are thoroughly deplorable.

Is it so important to have others believe your purchase is 'right' or 'better'?
For the love of baby jebus on rubber crutches, I swear our civilization has no farking chance.

I'm buying a mac to replace my piece of shiat PC.

Bah. This is was probably created by SCO and MS themselves to drum up anti-linux support.

Just like their 'third party, objective' studies, funded by MS, shows that MS is better than linux.

/spin spin spin

wouldn't be surprised if this was step 2 of RIAAs plan to try and torpedo Kazaa.

Hey, they can't do stuff legally to them, directly or indirectly, that will hobble their business plan. What "other" options are there? hmmmm....

vaporlock I used to carry one of these around in college and would heft it on the table at the cafeteria. I thought it was so cool. It's still in my mother's attic.

sdw3u: Thanks for all the input; there's a Mac store about an hour from me - I'll head down this weekend and check things out.

Might go "bi." heh, heh.

You can go "bi" on one computer - Microsoft makes a PC emulator for Mac (they bought out Connectix), which you'll find at many Mac stores.

I use Windows, Linux(home/personal use) and I ahve dabbled in OSX. My personal opinion is that OSX is nice, and that all other previous MAC incarnations suck eggs. OSX is what gnome/KDE should be like and they are not that far off from doing that either. MAC is a big wimp for not running on standard platforms as well. If it did I would have a copy running at home. I am not going to buy a proprietary hardware to run UNIX of all things, unless it was enterprise server or something, certainly not a client machine. Apple needs to sprout a pair and embrace 64 bit open source platforms(as they do like using the best hardware).

/end rant

I once got a p2p virus.

Company (for whom I no longer work) gave me an old PC so that I could download music and burn CDs without using up the resources of my primary PC.

Downloaded kazaalite and downloaded a song to test it out. When I found the directory into which Kazaalite was putting the downloaded files, I came across the file I had just downloaded as well as xxxxxhotlesbianphotos.gif. I assumed that the previous user of the computer (don't know where the PC came from before it became "mine") had some interesting porn on the harddrive so I clicked it.....and suddendly that directory FILLED with hundreds of files with names ranging from thephantommenace.avi to kornikovanaked.gif to hotnakedsex.mpg.....and NVA went nutz advising me that all 198 files had a virus and that there was not much that NVA could do about it.

Took a while to clean the PC. Was very glad that I had not done that to my primary system.

ohm Do you people NOT keep anti-virus up to date on your desktops and servers?

Of course they don't. Most people get the "free 30-day trial" with their computer and never upgrade it to the real version... If they do, they buy it once, and think it will last forever. It's surprising how many people don't realize that you need to update your virus definitions on a regular basis, and most companies require you to buy a yearly subscription. My parents never bothered to update their subscription on their old computer, and were using definitions over a year old because when the window popped up asking if they wanted to subscribe every time they turned their computer on, they said "no" because they thought it was ok.

I bought my mom a mac, my sister a mac, my girlfriend a mac, her mom a mac. also gave my g/f a pc with nix on it (lindows) cause i got one for free (old).

over the years ofc, i'm not rich.

but the reason why, i work in the IT industry. the majority of people do not need windows, and i never wanted to hear from them about broken stuff.

if it was a perfect world everyone would be on macs or linux, and servers would be running windows.

but you know what?

Microsoft Windows is job security.

yep it is.

<b>Ent</b>

I think the normal price for this setup is a bit over $3000 (no monitor) (quite good if you consider my brother just bought an inferior dell setup for $4.5... still can't believe he spent that much).

I don't know for sure as I know somebody well placed at apple who gave me the hookup, I ended up paying a bit over $2k

Also, the prices are going to drop soon on the current G5s as a couple higher end G5s are gonna coming out (I've been told)

I find that I actually get more for my money with macs now days.

Ishkur - Who the hell opens attachments in this day and age???

A couple of years ago, I got an e-mail containing the 'Anna Kournikova' virus. The virus was very new, but I knew that if I was getting it, sent from someone in our corporate global adreess book, that everyone else would soon be recieving it. I immediately notified everyone in my department that a virus was making it's rounds, told them who the 'sender' was and what the subject was. "Don't open the email and for God's sake don't click on the attachment!" I then proceeded upstairs to inform the MIS department so they could shut down the mail server. When I got back downstairs, I hear my boss say "uh-oh". He clicked on the attachment, even though I had told him not to. When I asked him why, he said he wanted to see the picture of Anna Kournikova. It set off a chain reaction and immediately emailed itself to everyone in our corporation. His story changed real fast. He still claims that he had just got done talking to 'the sender' and the guy told him that he was sending him some excel files.

2004-01-28 03:44:57 PM ForceMcCocken


oh, and anyone who feels the need to defend their consumer affiliation, or pre-emptively attack someone else's, really needs to reexamine their value system.

I agree. It's not a freakin' religion people!

willwanka:
people run binaries they grabbed off p2p networks?
that's dumber than opening attachments.

mmm-hmm.

and it's also interesting to note that by posting pictures, even invisible ones with asp redirects as a clear 1x1 gif, you can get the ip's of everyone who reads these posts. if you see someone saying they are infected, the ways to deal with the trojans to get into the infected people's computers (now that you have their ip's) are listed on many, many websites.

this is the internet.

on forums, it's best to disable images.

Aeonite:

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