Lifesupporters.com Forums - View Single Post - Make sure to UPDATE all Anti Virus Protection

Merika · 02-02-2006, 06:55 PM

(I guess everyone has been following this in the news. I didn't think to post it. Just in case anyone wasn't aware...PLEASE update your AV.)

Some of you may have also seen media reports of another virus called BlackWorm, Win32.Nyxem, W32/MyWife, Blackmal among many other names. Some computer security experts estimate that more than 680,000 computers worldwide have the virus that will damage unprotected systems the third of each month (tomorrow).

If a computer is infected with BlackWorm, when the system clock reaches February 3rd the payload of the virus will run if the machine's protection (anti-virus) is not up to date. The most common problems are that the computer will try to mass-mail the virus to other computers, attempt to delete files associated with security related programs (shut down your anti-virus) but more important is that the worm will destroy all files with the following extensions by overwriting: .doc, .xls, .mdb, .mde, .ppt, .pps, .zip, .rar, .pdf, .psd, .dmp (pretty much all of your user data)

When you receive a questionable e-mail, especially from an unknown or un-trusted source, please don't open it - and more importantly, DON'T OPEN THE ATTACHMENT. When in doubt, delete it out! This is especially true if the subject or text seems out sorts for work that you normally do.

For home users, keep your anti-virus and personal firewall software up to date.

02-02-2006, 06:55 PM	#1 (permalink)
Merika Retired Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Florida, USA Posts: 13,268	Make sure to UPDATE all Anti Virus Protection (I guess everyone has been following this in the news. I didn't think to post it. Just in case anyone wasn't aware...PLEASE update your AV.) Some of you may have also seen media reports of another virus called BlackWorm, Win32.Nyxem, W32/MyWife, Blackmal among many other names. Some computer security experts estimate that more than 680,000 computers worldwide have the virus that will damage unprotected systems the third of each month (tomorrow). If a computer is infected with BlackWorm, when the system clock reaches February 3rd the payload of the virus will run if the machine's protection (anti-virus) is not up to date. The most common problems are that the computer will try to mass-mail the virus to other computers, attempt to delete files associated with security related programs (shut down your anti-virus) but more important is that the worm will destroy all files with the following extensions by overwriting: .doc, .xls, .mdb, .mde, .ppt, .pps, .zip, .rar, .pdf, .psd, .dmp (pretty much all of your user data) When you receive a questionable e-mail, especially from an unknown or un-trusted source, please don't open it - and more importantly, DON'T OPEN THE ATTACHMENT. When in doubt, delete it out! This is especially true if the subject or text seems out sorts for work that you normally do. For home users, keep your anti-virus and personal firewall software up to date.