Re: Yet another Mass e-mail worm TM - Gibe-F/Swen-A - E-mail from Microsoft

From: Rev Turd Fredericks (turdfred_at_catholic.org)
Date: 09/20/03

  • Next message: Colonel Flagg: "Re: Web based email issues" 
    Date: Sat, 20 Sep 2003 03:21:27 GMT

    Dave wrote:
    > "Rev Turd Fredericks" <turdfred@catholic.org> wrote in message
    > news:PM0003C7B79D9EA844@dhcppc2.reshsg.uci.edu...
    >>
    >> My wife got the msblast virus merely by
    >> turning off her firewall to play a game.
    >
    > Microsoft advocates are claiming that XP is just as secure as Linux,
    > that
    > you can't get a virus without doing something stupid, like clicking on
    > an
    > email attachement. Could you tell us more about this incident. Does
    > "play
    > a game" mean download some program and run it? Why would you need to
    > turn
    > off a firewall to play a game on your own computer?

    It was an online game called Neverwinter nights. The program was not
    downloaded, it was purchased. She doesn't use email at home either. The
    firewall was disabled because it sometimes interferes with the game, I
    have since fixed that and the game can be played with the firewall on.
    There was no user interaction required. The only reason we found out was
    when she renabled her firewall, the firewall warning window popped up
    and asked "msblast.exe requests a connection to IP xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx".
    msblast takes advantage of an RPC vulnerability. She doesn't use XP but
    it is also vulnerable to msblast in the same manner.

    >
    > I've also heard that msblast can infect a computer without *any* user
    > interaction. I was told this by a system administrator who takes care
    > of
    > hundreds of Windows workstations. I asked him what network services
    > were
    > running on the computers (telnet, ftp, etc.) and he said none. The
    > virus
    > can apparently propagate with just the basic network communication
    > protocols.
    >
    Yup.

  • Next message: Colonel Flagg: "Re: Web based email issues"

    Relevant Pages