blueyonder uk internet provider: scary experience.

From: Steve Anon (steve.anon_at_gmail.com)
Date: 04/15/05 

Date: 14 Apr 2005 15:41:53 -0700

Not sure where to post this, but I though this newsgroup might be
appropriate.
In 15 years of programming and using PCs, I never had a single virus.
Then, just like buses, 1400 show up in one go :)

I'm using blueyonder (the isp division of telewest broadband in the
UK). I still can barely believe it myself, but if I plug in a box with
a formatted drive in to my internet connection, then install win xp
pro or home, within 2 minutes of the installation I get hacked into.
It's quite amazing really!

The process is always the same (so it's certainly automated):
1- computer boots up for the first time in win xp
2- I go to windows update for the first time, planning to download sp2
3- at that point I start getting messages very similar to the stuff
generated by NETSEND. That's quite unsettling really, lots of spam
stuff (viagra, etc)
4- I don't even get to the point where I can download the sp2 that the
machine starts grinding badly (hard drive spins like mad). I can see
network utilisation shooting up, cpu usage as well.
5- 10 seconds later I get the 'RPC error, machine needs to restart in
60seconds'
6- when computer has rebooted, tons (hundreds?) of spyware/viruses etc
have been installed on the box.

Needless to say I only user original, licensed software. If I deploy
xp with the ethernet disconnected, I get no problem whatsoever and the
boxes work great. It's definitly coming from the network.

Well I'm sure this is nothing new to most of you but It really freaked
me out. That a commercial ISP be so infected by bots and viruses is
very surprising, I never had anything like that happen to me before.

Steve.

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