Thread: THE BUGBEAR WORM !!!!! ARE YOU NEXT???

UPDATE
My ISP's mail server is down.
Has it been struck??

The single most effective and consistent form of virus protection is to NOT use Outlook or Outlook Express, under any circumstances for anything. Find another email program.

The second most effective virus protection is to NEVER double click on anything anyone sends you, unless of course it's something you asked to be sent to you.

Almost every virus that has hit the headlines relies on a combination of Outlook and the inexperience/stupidity of it's users

The only way to run Outlook safely is to only use it connected to a mail server that's locked down, runs virus protection and blocks every type of attachment that is possibly harmful. That's NOT an email server at an ISP.

Don't worry no major problem I use a seperate machine for internet type stuff.
Best firewall you can get.
Have been meaning to change to another email client eudora seems popular.

Usually, email about virus is considered another form of a virus. But this gentleman was quite specific and I belive accurate with his warnings and suggestions. I've copied the contents here:

Friends

I have very recently updated my virus detection software. I has detected the "BUGBEAR WORM".
The next but latest version did not detect this attack.

I believe this worm came in a weird email.

I was silly enough to open an attachment I was not expecting.

While I believe my virus software has removed the worm from my system I can not be sure if this has propogated further.

I strongly recommend that you update your virus definitions without delay and conduct a full scan of your machines.

This is a nasty piece of code able to disable some virus software & firewalls.

This further reinforces my strong dislike of the practise of sending unnecessary attachments with emails.

Please send all text in plain text in the email window.

Please do not send plain text as attachments particularly MS office files such as word unless you have a very good reason to do so and you are advising me prior.

AND preferably send any text attachments in a format which does not support macros such as rich text format or ASCII files. My current understanding is that PDF files are reasonably safe.

Better safe
JOE

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Well said JOE.
Althogh I'm not sure about the PDF Files.

I'm running Norton Antivirus and have NOT been alerted of this virus. However, someone who believes they have received an email from me containing the Virus.

I've been using outlook since inception. I always leave the preview pane on to see the message. If its spam or a message with an attachment that I have not been notified to expect then I delete it. No hesitation.

Usually norton antivirus removes the attachment it feels to be suspect and I never even get to see the attachment.

I've also set Outlook to remove all deleted item from my Deleted folder on exit. That way I'll never be able to accidentally open a deleted item which has been moved to the deleted folder.



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Thanks,
Barry G. Sumpter
Proud Tritoneer
Triton Woodworkers Club Holmesglen

http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/tools.list.html
This will see if you are infected.
I have received the virus about 15 times so far and Vet has detected it, one problem this morning was that I could not open my emails as it closed the programme at about 95% of the operation and gave me a virus alert.
I opened in outlook and removed the mail.
One email I received was under the banner of Hotmail news with a few uppper and lower case alterations.
(My anti virus is EZ Trust which is a version of Vet)

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: http://community.webshots.com/user/iain49

I use the latest Outlook with all the fixes and updates. However I also use a great little program from NZ called Mail Washer http://www.mailwasher.net/ which allows you to vet all your incoming emails for spam, viruses, etc. and lets you bounce unwanted stuff back to the sender, delete unwanted emails, add senders to a blacklist and more all in just a few seconds. All this is done prior to sending the wanted emails to Outlook.

I have a great service provider in Netconnect Bendigo, their server picks up most viruses before they ever get to me. On top of that after losing a computer to a virus about 18 mth ago I am extremely careful just what I open as far as attachments are concerned.

My Virus program is called Quickheal http://quickheal.com and in my oppinion is miles better than the big 3 (Nort-Mc-Vet). It has picked up worms and viruses that the others won't even look at. Oh yes, and at one tenth the price.

Finally. Windows XP. Do yourself a favour and get it, it's brilliant.

Just my little bit.

Cheers - Neil

Heve spoken to a number of associates in the last few days 3 of them have had am infection of varying seriousness.

Brian returned my email telling me that at work his system administrator reports over 100 sucessfull rejections of bugbear since friday knock off time.
They update their virus definitions every day.
This is only the second virus I have been infected with in 15 years. others report similar surprise.

Update now if you havn't already.

better safe.

Try Linux

Why?
1. Security,In thirty five years no viable viruses have been written for Unix type operating systems including linux.

2. It runs hard on older hardware, and will make a later model memory rich machine just about jump off the desk (much, much faster than what you are probably used too). I'll bet good money this old 333 Celeron of mine is at least twice as fast under Linux than it ever was with Micro$oft.

3. Stability, Linux is the operating system of choice for mission critical sever environments everywhere from Wall St. to the International Space Station.

4. Everybody else is, companies using Linux include IBM, Helwlett Packard/Compac, Shell, Mobil, Toyota, Ford, Disney, Reuters, US Military, Boeing, Air New Zealand, Amazon.com, Google.com, u'Beaut web site (correct me if I'm wrong Neil), Aust. dept of Veterans Affairs and Centerlink are changing over over the next couple of years (trust the Govt. to spend $225 million on free software)
most Euopean Governments Plus tens, possibly hundreds of millions of home users all over the world. Linux is the fastest growing operating system in the history of computing.

5. It's free, Linux is open source software and isn't owned by any one entity, it is owned by the comunity. It was originally unleashed upon the world by Linus Torvolds an student at the University of Helsinki in 1992. No other software is needed, Linux comes bundled with around two thousand programs, you never need to pay a "tax" to use your computer again.

6. Linux is easy to use, Linux used to have a reputation of only being for those who are "technically enlightened". Modern Linux distributions are a cinch to install and use, Mandrake Linux 9 & Red Hat 8 are especially so.

There is a very real sense of community surrounding Linux and it's users. The spirit of sharing without asking anything in return is prevalent, and has won the Linux community awards for providing the best technical support in the computer industry. I for one reckon linux is the way to go. We now have four computers running on Red Hat 7.3, three at work are networked togther and handle all the work that a typical small business requires, like e-mail, running the financial sotware, file & print sharing, web site editing and publishing, they all run 24/7 the only time they are shut down is for upgrading or regular maintenance. All this is done without the expense of additional software, the exception is a rather state of the art financial package that I bought for $78.00US.

Cheers
Graeme.

Funny you should mention linux graham. I recon that linux will be my next OS. Plan on installing mandrake9 over christmas on a spare machine. In fact I have a linux site open in another window as I type.