Virus Follies, August 2003

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Posted 21 August, 2003

August 2003 is probably the worst month we have ever seen for viruses. Now we are over the Blaster worm, two new viruses and a worm that claims to be a "good guy" have appeared. The new Sobig variation is said to be the fastest ever spreading virus.

The Sobig Virus

The latest version of the Sobig virus is being described as the fastest spreading virus ever seen. Like most of the viruses we have seen in the last three years it uses email attachments, fake addresses and an innocuous subject line to spread. Knowing what is in your inbox and keeping your operating system and virus checkers up to date are important.

A virus from Microsoft?

The other new virus on the scene is the Damaru Virus. This poses as a mail from a Microsoft Administrator, Microsoft do not send files this way and you should be suspicious of any unsolicited attachment. The same precautions as Sobig apply.

Gunfight at the Virus Corral

The Welchia worm claims to be the "white hat" solution to the Blaster Worm. When it finds a vulnerable system, it downloads and installs the fix for you. If you're prepared to having other people's software fighting on your computer, then great! You can let this worm do the work for you.

At least that's the theory. In reality, the Welchia worm contains a number of programs that give allow the writers to access your computer. Unlike Blaster, this is a well written program with some serious nasty consequences.

To avoid it, make sure your Windows XP, 2000 and NT machines are fully updated from http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com. Like Blaster, it does not affect Windows ME, 98 and 95 machines. The Sobig and Damaru viruses affect all unprotected versions of Windows.

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