New Computer Virus Computer Virus that masquerades as NEWS

[ARNEL 0]

Have you ever read or encouter such virus that disguised as NEWS..
well here is some info on how virus created found and works...

 

Researchers have identified a new computer virus that masquerades as news headlines from CNN's Web site.

Sophos, an anti-virus firm, says the virus -- identified as Crowt-A -- pulls headlines, subject lines and other content from CNN.com. Once opened, the virus can then scan the user's address book and try to email itself to those users.

The virus' subject line and attachment share the same name, Sophos researchers say, but change continually to match headlines from CNN.com's home page.

"Virus writers are always looking for new tricks to entice innocent computer users into running their malicious code," Carole Theriault, security consultant at Sophos, said in a statement. "This latest ploy feeds on people's desire for the latest news."

Although the number of PCs possibly infected was not immediately known, Sophos said there has been only a small number of sightings.

In addition to emailing itself to other users, the virus also installs a "backdoor Trojan function," according to Sophos. This function can pick up and send data such as keystrokes to a remote user -- a practice sometimes used by hackers to obtain sensitive information such as passwords.

Last May, a fast-spreading computer "worm" known as Sasser wreaked havoc on computer users worldwide, affecting several businesses, banks and government offices.

Users of the Windows operating systems reported sluggish machines and computers that quit or rebooted for no reason.

Anti-virus companies estimate that more than 1 million PCs were infected.

While a computer virus requires some sort of human intervention to be launched, such as opening an e-mail, a worm takes off on its own. Sasser spread through a Windows vulnerability known as LSASS, or Local Security Authority Subsystem Service -- hence the name Sasser.

Sasser would scan random Internet protocol addresses until it found a vulnerable system. Then it would copy itself into the Windows directory as an executable file, and would launch the next time the computer is booted. All that searching for a new "victim" would slow things down across the Internet...

if you have any informations or related case with regards to this virus maybe yo can post it here and share your ideas on how we can handle and remover not only this type of bugs but in general...

 

Notice from BuffaloHELP:

Do not copy and paste articles from another websites and post it without using

tags! Copied from CNN.com. Added

tags.

Edited September 21, 2016 by OpaQue (see edit history)

[rvalkass 5]

Some general advice for avoiding viruses:

Buy yourself a firewall program or download one free, such as ZoneAlarm.

Regularly scan your computer for malware, adware, spyware and all types of viruses, again either by buying an anti-virus program or downloading a free one.

Often you can find patches on the Internet to fix specific viruses. I have found the best come from Symantec, the creators of Norton Antivirus (although Norton isn't needed for the fixes). They are generally quick and simple to use.

[juice 0]

The best virus would be one that erases your entire disk, that would be an excellent virus but it would be better if it sent itself to everyone in your address book I'm sure Norton or Mcafee are making them, if there are no viruses no one purchases their software.

[ProtoMan 0]

Just install a Firewall for your PC.I insatalled Out Post Firewall from Agnitum and it works really fine for me.No virus for a while

[Panzer 0]

I insatalled Out Post Firewall from Agnitum and it works really fine for me.No virus for a while

The thing about firewalls i hate is that they constantly update. Nearly every day my old one would want to check for updates, i turned the check update box off, it still wanted to check for updates.

The only way to truely stop it from scanning is to turn it off. Thats just the same as having no firewall. Anti Viruses work fine for me, i always scan files that i download and they always get the virus.

I guess that virus wont affect parts of the world. New Zealand doesnt get CNN and im sure lots of other parts dont as well.

[DarkPsycho 0]

Why open an email attachment to see the latest news?I would just check it at CNN.com for myself lol.

[ProtoMan 0]

I agree that Anti-virus is better than the Firewall.Because a good anti-virus software works well for me , too.

[Cool_Freaker 0]

I have sygate personal firewall, it's free, it doesn't update by itself whenever it wants to, and it helped me delete many viruses before they started acting on people's computers. The thing with sygate is, each time a program tries to connect, or be connected from the internet, it will ask you if you allow it. Say one day you notice there is a virus on your computer, and a suspicious application extention, .dll, is trying to connect to the internet, you can prevent it's access. Then, with the program "Killbox", you can search and kill the process, deleting the file before it hurts your computer. Though I forgot a direct link to the download, search "Sygate Personal Firewall Free" for a link.

[tydes 0]

I don't use any antivirus or any firewall, but I never infected by virus!!!Don't you know Brontox??? Avast know as VB.JY and norman detected as Rontokbro????

[heymish 0]

tydes just to be on the safe side i would download zonealarm or some other well known virus protection program as sooner or later everyone gets a potentially harmful virus and cannot do anything about it with no protection softwareJuice if that theroy is true it would explain alot

Edited October 9, 2006 by heymish (see edit history)

[Sinari 0]

I've just fixed my computer from some Spanish Porn virus of something. The thing is, I was really careful- I never opened things from people I don't know, never downloaded any programs, or anything like that. It's not like I visit those kind of sites! ANyway, I've found that Spybot works well against that, but you should keep it updated and Immunized so it can find and kill bad stuff. Spybot also has a resident program that it launches and any register change is presented to you to accept or decline. I've saved my computer several times just because of that....

[tydes 0]

I need not any firewall or any antivirus, because................I am virus maker:)

[rahul_rules22 0]

I dont have come to know a lot about the news virus that you stated before however it sure sounds creepy. I guess we can try to keep our computers by installing latest antivirus (Norton works for me) and keep looking for updates. I have a dual boot system and browse the internet using either of the OS and every time I feel my PC is acting a bit sluggish or funny I just scan for any potential virus or spyware through the OS which I am not currently using to browse the web.

[tydes 0]

Yeah its good, sure you need to install antivirus + firewall:)

[special 0]

any 1 that even gets a virus or spyware, its yust a dumb internet user. I think any1 who has them shoud go to class and learn how 2 deal with computers.In the 14 years I workd with computers, I never had a spyware or virusproblem all mighty dandy. And well thats my opion about it if you dont want a virus play it safe dont visit sites or dl item you dont trust.