Topic: "Obama speech" Virus

[Ecosse]

Hey folks. I didn't know where else to post this but I just recieved an email from a reliable family member. I also checked the links and looks like this is a real danger.

Can anyone add to it? Email as follows:


" THIS IS TRUE

 

http://urbanlegends.about.com/od/virushoaxes1/a/obama_virus.htm


 
Real virus alert

SEND TO EVERYONE IN YOUR ADDRESS BOOK. THIS IS REAL.   
URGENT; E-MAIL ALERT   

Do not open "Obama Acceptance Speech" or "Amazing Speech by Obama"

http://www.snopes.com/computer/virus/obamaspeech.asp

This email came from a source at the Secret
Service, so please be aware of any mails with the subject line below.
   
THERE IS AN EMAIL WITH SUBJECT LINE OBAMA ACCEPTANCE SPEECH FLO ATING AROUND WITH A TROJAN HORSE ATTACHMENT.

DO NOT OPEN FOR ANY REASON. DELETE IMMEDIATELY.

THE TROJAN STEALS ALL PASSWORDS AND USER IDS."
 
 
 
 
 

[fuzzybutt]

no worries about anyone in my household opening that 

[CaféElite]

http://www.f-secure.com/weblog/archives/00001585.html

[Ecosse]

no worries about anyone in my household opening that 

  Yaddya mean fuzzybutt?




Thanks CafeElite for the link.

[tramp]

thanks for the info
i'm with fuzzy, no need about me opening it

[eldar]

Nobody should need to worry about it unless they are lax on antivirus and malware protection. poor political choices aside. Shame on you all for not voting 3rd party!

[Ecosse]

I heard about a Nader virus... kills American rear engined cars but ignores import variations. Latches onto and erodes credibility of the political (and legal) process while slowing down media sources with incoherent clutter.



Nobody seems to take this virus seriously.

[eldar]

Thats while I like the baldwin virus!

[Ecosse]

Thats while I like the baldwin virus!

Which version, the Christian Right or Limousine Liberal? I'm pretty sure there are other Baldwin Viruses but nobody seems to know what happened to them.   

[Ecosse]

Kidding aside I forwarded this notice because I figure it's better to be safe then sorry. I use to have Norton thinking I was set; if it weren't for computer nerd friends I woulda been clueless(er).


Besides, there's inevitably a smarter mouse than mouse trap.

[eldar]

Norton is only good at being a system hog anyways. There are free scanners out there that work better and are more user friendly.

[fuzzybutt]

i've used NOD32 for many years now and it's top notch. it catches stuff that nortons on my wifes computer doesnt. i have the corporate edition.

[fuzzybutt]

I heard about a Nader virus... kills American rear engined cars but ignores import variations. Latches onto and erodes credibility of the political (and legal) process while slowing down media sources with incoherent clutter.



Nobody seems to take this virus seriously.

Well, as many good people as there are from this town, Ralph Nader is orginally from Winsted Connecticut, kind of like the hillbillys of connecticut. my mom was in the same class as Ralph and she told me that the entire family was known as being batty.

[eldar]

nod is very good. Norton is a waste of money.

[Ecosse]

I just got the free version of SuperAntiSpyware.com via a suggestion from my bro-in-law, have CCleaner, Spybot, and Avast. All free and better than what I got from Norton.

My nerd brother in law (I say that with love) advised me having two anti-virus thingamajigs  can create conflict problems (if I remember correctly) and I think he suggested getting rid of the Avast as he liked the SuperAntiSpyware.



Geez, forgot I have Kaspersky too and seemed to catch something otherwise undetected- this was before the SAP.COM. Just seeing what works best I suppose.

[eldar]

Superantispyware will not fully replace av software BUT I do prefer avg for av over avast. Another good spyware program is antimalware's malware bytes. it is a very good scanner and VERY easy to use PLUS it has its own installer meaning it can be installed in SAFE mode if you need, which is awesomely useful.

[Ecosse]

Superantispyware will not fully replace av software BUT I do prefer avg for av over avast.

av software...? avg?

speak slower and louder please.

[eldar]

AV = Anti-Virus. AVG stands for Anti-Virus Grisoft. Grisoft is the company name.

[333]

Not that I'm trained in IT, but I get my info from some heavy hitters.

Yes, Avast and AVG are decent A/V packages, but only if you pay for the full versions.  They offer no advantage over the commercially known McAfee or Norton.  That having been said, Norton (and probably McAfee) has had it's issues as well.  Mainly because of the habit of taking last years product and working it over for the current year.  The exception is 360.  Totally written fresh from the ground up.

[eldar]

Your hitters would be wrong then.  I DO work in IT. I work at a private college. We get the enterprise version of mcafee. We can install it on any machine we want. We put avg on our home computers. We also put it on student computers. Why? After having mcafee and norton miss loads of viruses, we tried avg FREE and have had an awesome success rate with it.

Also, if you do some research on it, you will see it scores very well in tests.

http://anti-virus-software-review.toptenreviews.com/avg-review.html
The free is av and anti-spyware. I guess if you DO need more, then $35 is not a bad price for the performance.

Give it a try, you may be less inclined to take your heavy hitters at face value.

[CaféElite]

Here is a curve ball for you guys.. I work in the information security field and guess what AV I run? None.. thats right I dont run any AV on my personal systems and some of them are even wintel boxes. After doing enough POC on different AV vendors and seeing McAfee as a business solution for a couple years now I have come to the conclusion they all are more of a headache then helpfull.

For home systems the key is being behind a decent router\firewall, firefox w/ no-script, keeping your software (this includes adobe, java, flash.. not just windows) patched, and having good browsing habits. If I get a questionable file I will just upload it to www.virustotal.com and let it tell me if its legit or not.

Now your thinking this guy either doesnt look at porn or is fooling himself. hmm might be a bit of both but if I want to venture off to some shaddy side of the net I use a VM that when im done using it I shut it down and it clears all changes and is back to the happy config I setup.

On the flip side for you people that have better things then watching traffic flow across the wire then I would suggest AVG to your system. It has a fairly light foot print for AV and it does ok for well know malicious content. Keeping ALL your software patched is still more important though.

[eldar]

Or a person could do their browsing on a linux box and not worry about it. Just another option and its free to boot.

[CaféElite]

While that has been true in the past and still holds a little weight I think the time of using linux to be safe is over. Its a two fold issue really.. Linux Distro's like ubuntu are including a ton of apps that are shall we say weak and a lot more people are starting to use Linux that are uneducated or lazy. The sheep are moving to linux and its a lot easier to work as root then a restricted user.

[eldar]

Same applies on mac though. But what really works in boths favor is the lack of virus for either one. Oh sure I suppose there are some but where? I mean you would have to dig in the darkest corners of the net to find them, or you would have to download them on purpose.

As for running as root, be default, ubuntu does not do that. It operates very much like mac does in that regard. For permissions, both are pretty swappable.

[Ecosse]

The ultimate solution I believe is the "Ultimate Solution". Automatic death penalty for anyone caught creating, implementing, or otherwise taking part in any viruses, spy ware, and the like. People would line up just to pull the switch on these POS.


 

[eldar]

Well that IS one option!