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New Rash of “Welcome to” Spam Brings Unwelcome Storm Trojan and Controls Your PC

A new wave of spam hitting everybody’s inboxes takes the form of a welcome to one or another website and service, complete with temporary login information and a link to ‘change your temporary password’. The subjects all say some variant of “Login Information”, “Member Details”, “Registration Details” or, even, occasionally, “Internet Techincal Support” (sic). What they also all have in common is that if you click on that link, your computer will have just become a botnet pimp’s newest bitch.

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Gmail “Message left on server” Message – What it Means

If you use Gmail, it is likely that on occasion you will get an email that says something like ‘Message left on server: “(no subject)”‘ or ‘Message left on server: “Undelivered Mail Returned to Sender”‘, or ‘Message left on server:” followed by some random subject. The message, which comes from “Gmail Team “, will then invariably instruct you that the message “contained a virus or a suspicious attachment. It was therefore not fetched from your account” and that it has “been left on the server.” Here’s what it means.

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If it Says You’ve Received a Greeting eCard from a Friend, Class Mate, or Partner – Well, You Haven’t. And Don’t Open It!

A rash of virus-laden spam has been going around posing as Hallmark e-cards or other e-cards. “You’ve received a greeting ecard from a friend” says the subject. Variations include “You’ve received a greeting card from a partner”, “You’ve received a greeting postcard from a class-mate”, and “You’ve received a greeting ecard from a class mate”. The “ecard” appears to come from such legitimate sounding addresses as hallmark.com, MyPostcards.com, postcards.org, e-cards.com, NetFunCards.com, FunnyPostcards.com, Greeting-Cards.com, and VintagePostcards.com.
Whatever the variation, it’s not only spam, it’s almost certainly carrying a virus or a trojan which will turn your computer into a spam- and virus-sending robot.

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“Hackers Can Now Deliver Viruses via Web Ads” Wall Street Journal Headline Exaggerates the Danger

An article this week by the Wall Street Journal blares out that “Hackers Can Now Deliver Viruses via Web Ads”. It’s not like the WSJ to go the sensationalist route, so we can only assume that the reporter doesn’t usually cover the Internet security beat. Regardless, this type of fear mongering is irresponsible at best, unforgivable at worst.

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The Real Profile of a Zombie Botnet Waking Up and Taking Over an ISP’s Customers Computers

Talk about the latest detailed news on botnets! The ultimate of an inside look at botnets – it is the real, first-hand account of what happened this week when a zombie botnet woke up, based on some unseen signal triggered or programmed by the botnet owner, and took over hundreds of customer computers at a large US broadband ISP.

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Best Anti Spam Software, Anti Spyware Programs, and Anti Virus Software Identified by Consumer Reports

Consumer Reports has released their recommendations for the best anti spam software, the best anti spyware remover, and the best anti virus software.

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The Phish Alert Who Cried Wolf – McAfee Anti-Virus Calls Legitimate Sites Phishy, Also Freezes Computers and Locks Programs

The latest round in McAfee Antivirus heartache has people complaining that perfectly legitimate and innocent websites are being called “phishing sites” by McAfee. In addition, McAfee is wreaking havoc with Lotus Notes, causing computers to freeze, and locking programs, sometimes requiring a complete reinstall. And if your McAfee antivirus program identifies any of usersid.exe, imjpinst.exe, ecenter.exe, ntfstype.exe, adobeupdatemanager.exe, gtb2k1033.exe, 43gcjvgahnu44.ths, excel.exe or graph.exe as malicious files, well, don’t take its word for it, and don’t delete them!

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Spam Carrying Trojan Viruses Hitting Everyone this Month

Spam laden with trojan viruses are running high this month – primarily the Small.DAM Trojan – so be extra careful. Common subject lines include those about “Storm Batters Europe”, updates on Condoleeza Rice, and claims that Putin is dead and Hussein is alive. The subject lines vary, but the Trojan payload remains the same: executable files surreptitiously installed on your computer, with file names such as “Full Story.exe”, “Full Text.exe”, “Full Video.exe”, “Video.exe”, “Full Clip.exe” or “Read More.exe”, or such.

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Video iPods Shipped with Windows Virus, says Apple – iPod Virus is Windows RavMonE Virus

A number of video iPods have shipped with the Windows RavMonE virus, says Apple. The iPod virus, which shows as RavMonE.exe was discovered in a small number of video iPods shipped after Septemer 12th.

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Orkut Users Being Silently Scammed and Robbed by Orc.Malware – Google’s Orkut Service Hotbed of Brazilian Malware

The Spyware Guide has broken wide open a story involving Google’s Orkut service. Having discovered what it has dubbed “Orc.Malware”, the Spyware guide has investigated and found that Google’s Orkut is infested with the malwaree.

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“Osama Bin Laden Discovered Dead” CNN Newsflash Really Virus Laden Spam

Email claiming to be a CNN newsflash with the headline “Osama Bin Laden Discovered Dead” is making the rounds. It contains a file called “photo+article.zip”. Don’t open it!

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Password to Unlock Files Held Hostage by Ransomware Trojan Revealed

Archiveus is the newest of a string of Trojans being dubbed “ransomware” because they lock and hold your files hostage until you either purchase something from the ransomware’s author or pay the ransomware’s author money outright. Here is the password to unlock your files which have been locked by the ransomware Archiveus.

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Trojan Virus Steals World of Warcraft Passwords, Win32.WOW Lets Author Steal Your World of Warcraft Items and Sell Them

A new trojan virus, Win32.WOW, steals your World of Warcraft password and lets the trojan’s author steal your World of Warcraft gold and World of Warcraft items, and sell them out from under your nose.

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New Windows Ransom Trojan Freezes Computer, Demands Ransom as it Deletes Files

A nasty new Windows ransom trojan called Ransom-A (also Troj/Ransom-A and TROJ_RANSOM.A) freezes your computer, and if you don’t pay it ransom money, it starts deleting your files.

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Computer Viruses on RFIDs, Fact or Fiction?

There’s been a lot in the news lately about computer viruses hiding on RFID chips. It all started when a group of researchers presented a paper this week, entitled “Is your cat infected with a computer virus?” The paper, written by three computer science researchers with Amsterdam’s Free University, detailed…