** Important **

[MaryOld]

There are viruses going around in email...again.

 

Kristy just sent me a copy of one that she got.

 

The title of this current one reads:

A IE 6.0 patch and the text is: This is a IE 6.0 patch

I wish you would enjoy it.

 

Do not download the attached file (usually a .exe or a .zip).  Microsoft NEVER sends out files to people - you can only download them from their websites.

 

It's a good idea never to download email files from people you don't know...kinda like "safe sex"

 

That particular virus is the Win32 virus (W32/Klez-G).  Not something that anyone wants.  Here's more about this virus from McAffee: More info  and  from Symantic

 

 

Klez Worm Continues to Spread

 

Home PC users should be on the lookout for worm and its variants, as reports of new infections increase.

 

Joris Evers, IDG News Service  

 

The W32.Klez worm and its variants are still loose in the wild more than a week after the latest variant was discovered, moving antivirus software vendor Symantec to upgrade it to a level 4 virus threat on its danger scale of five.

 

Symantec says it is receiving more than 3,000 submissions a day of W32.Klez and its variants. At the peak of the SirCam virus, in mid-2001, the company received about 1,500 daily submissions, Symantec of Cupertino, California, says in a statement.

 

"The number of submissions warrants a level-four rating," says Andre Post, senior researcher at Symantec. "But you have to see this in perspective. The submissions are for all W32.Klez variants--W32.Klez.E and W32.Klez.H are the main two contributors to these numbers."

 

W32.Klez.H, the latest variant of the W32.Klez mass mailer worm that first surfaced last year, was discovered on April 17. A variant of a worm contains attributes of the original, but has been altered so that it behaves differently. Updated virus signatures from leading antivirus software vendors should protect against the worm.

 

Hitting Home

 

Home users, not corporations, are being hit by W32.Klez, according to Post.

 

"Based on analysis of Thursday's submissions I can say that 5 percent or less of all the submissions that we get are from corporate users. The overwhelming majority is from home users. Corporations have learned that they need to protect themselves from worms and viruses like these," he says.

 

Marius van Oers, a virus research engineer with Network Associates in Amsterdam, says W32.Klez is spreading worldwide and is "one of the biggest virus threats today, but not historically."

 

It's not a one-day phenomenon, he says. "It started slowly and we have seen the spread accelerate in the last week."

 

Network Associates rates the worm "medium" risk, but that really only goes for home users, according to Van Oers, who agreed that W32.Klez finds most of its victims among home users.

 

"We aren't worried too much about the corporate users as they work with updated virus definitions and filtering on file extensions. However, we are seeing reports from home users. The risk level for corporate users is slightly below medium, but it is certainly at medium for the home users," he says.

 

Updated Protection

 

Both Symantec and Network Associates advise users to check if they have recent virus definition files installed. Symantec offers a special software tool to remove the virus.

 

W32.Klez.H arrives in an e-mail with a random subject line and message body. The sender's e-mail address can be spoofed. Once launched, the worm sends itself to all addresses it finds in the Windows address book, the database of instant-messaging program ICQ, and local files. A file from the user's system is randomly selected and sent along with the worm.

 

W32.Klez.H also attempts to disable antivirus software and drops another virus in the user's system that tries to infect executable files there and across network filing systems, according to antivirus vendor write-ups of the worm.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

You can never get a virus by posting on the boards or attending the chats.  The only way to get them is through an executable (.exe) file, usually that comes through email.

[Kristy]

I'd like to add that I notified Mary. I notified Mary because the HTML file that was attached was a picture of the Cushing's Help website! AACK! Also attached was the other information she posted above.

 

I have been getting hit with downloadables at my home 4,5,6 times a day. I have McAfee Viruscan Online and I don't open the files! I checked my machines this weekend just to be double sure and they are fine!!!! Please do the same!

[Guest SuziQ2]

This makes me wonder about something.  For the past week I've been getting a lot of email with attached files from 'people' I don't know and never heard of.  I just delete it.  The last couple of days it's irritated me.  I've been trying to figure out why all of a sudden I'm getting all this mail with attachments.  Could this be the same thing?

 

Sue

[MaryOld]

I've been getting a lot the last week or so, too...and I've never heard of the people it's coming from, either.

 

Usually the title is something weird, though, like "CELLSPACING".  

 

I just delete them all, too, without even opening the email.

[Guest]

Sue and Mary,

 

I too have been getting lots of e-mails as well from people I do not know with attachments, and I usually do not open them unless I know them, also I usually will ask someone if they sent me an e-mail with a download or attachment to make certain it came from them.

 

Paula

[MaryOld]

Apparently Microsoft knows that this is a security issue involving Internet Explorer.  If you use this browser, to to http://www.microsoft.com/windows....ult.asp for a Security Update.

 

15 May 2002 Cumulative Patch for Internet Explorer (Q321232)

Originally posted: May 15, 2002

 

Summary

Who should read this bulletin: Customers using Microsoft? Internet Explorer

 

Impact of vulnerability: Six new vulnerabilities, the most serious of which could allow code of attacker's choice to run.

 

Maximum Severity Rating: Critical

 

Recommendation: Consumers using the affected versions of IE should install the patch immediately.

 

Affected Software:

 

Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.01

Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5

Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0

[Adrienne]

You guys rule. I got a virus from someone here; poor person i wont name them i alerted them i hope they erased it in time. I did not open it as my virus scanner came back with a worm. STILL, it messed some stuff up but i reloaded windows.

 

I have gotten soooo much junk mail that i cant block it all at whatareader so now i use sweetiepetey2002@yahoo.com. I havent changed it tho, im waiting to transfer my addys oops there i go yakking away lol.

[MaryOld]

Adrienne, the person you got it from, most likely didn't even send it at all.  This worm sends out it's own emails, using address books that people might have.

 

So, it might appear that person X has sent along an email, but they're not even aware of it.

 

Something interesting with this - my CushingsSupport email address sent a copy of this along to my PianoMary name.  No way would I have sent myself a file like this!

 

Remember - never, ever download an exe or a zip file even from someone you know unless you're absolutely, positive that they sent you this file.

 

A good, up to date, virus scanner is a must, too.