Dangerous computer worm (Social Networks)

I've seen a lot of people complaining of getting bugs here on ATS, though I've never had a problem here.

I thought I'd post this here as an FYI.

tech.yahoo.com...

- As Facebook works to make itself more relevant and timely for its growing member base with a profile page makeover, attackers seem to be working overtime to steal the identities of the friends, fans and brands that connect though the social-networking site.

Indeed, Facebook has seen five different security threats in the past week. According to Trend Micro, four new hoax applications are attempting to trick members into divulging their usernames and passwords. And a new variant of the Koobface worm is running wild on the site, installing malware on the computers of victims who click on a link to a fake YouTube video.

The Koobface worm is dangerous. It can be dropped by other malware and downloaded unknowingly by a user when visiting malicious Web sites, Trend Micro reports. When attackers execute the malware, it searches for cookies created by online social networks. The latest variant is targeting Facebook, but earlier variants have also plagued MySpace.

Koobface's Wicked Agenda

Once Koobface finds the social-networking cookies, it makes a DNS query to check IP addresses that correspond to remote domains. Trend Micro explains that those servers can send and receive information about the affected machine. Once connected, the malicious user can remotely perform commands on the victim's machine.

Consider yourselves warned.

I really wish the worm spreaders would stop trying to send me emails with fake links.
All I have to do is hover over the link and I see, agdtfwefsh.com... and I know its fake.
I really think there is some brain malfunction with these virus spreaders.

Just today I realized my computer was acting wierd and still is acting wierd. I went to WORD to type my assignment, the computer types -pn randomly. Has anyone else had this problem? It is something -np--pnn something like that and if you leave it for a long time it will stop doing it than randomly it will start again. It is pissing me off.

OH yeah when I am on Firefox it automatically goes on Word Search and types the same freagin thing. Pissing me off anyone having same problem.

my husband actually downloaded malwaredefender2009.exe onto our laptop today from youtube (grrrr youtube)

stopped it in its tracks though so it didn't actually install anything.

reply to post by Ownification


Sounds like your keyboard may be going bad to me. Not much point for any type of malware to do something like that that I can think of. I would try another keyboard and see if it continues.

I play with worms occassionally...

And there is (probably ) nothing wrong with your keyboard. Those geniuses like to do those kind of things, like opening and closing your cd slide, redirect you to random sites, etc.

It's not like a Windows box is secure.

Go to one of the online scanners like housecall at trendmicro or kaspersky.

I went thru a friend's kids laptop last week... they had 65+ trojans (and a porn downloader ), plus a real bad boy root kit TDSS.

Anyhow... You probably want to do it sooner, rather than later.

[edit on 8-3-2009 by golemina]

www.trustport.com.au

Best AV for those nasties..

Originally posted by Nonchalant
www.trustport.com.au

Best AV for those nasties..

Hey thanks mate I haven't seen that one.
I like to try them all

The key point in my recommendations....

They would be FREE scans.

Just in case it slipped by anyone.

When are people going to leave Microsoft in the dust and go Linux? I repair computers, and see all kinds of the stuff all the time...trojans and virus abound, and all aimed directly at Windows. Thankfully, I have converted a few of my customers, but I may be making a mistake talking them into Linux...they never come back! Download Linux for free, you can do anything a Windows computer can, and a lot faster too.

Don't forget to pay serious concern to your email.

Most malware payloads come across through email spam, and lie dormant until your web browser is used... often making it appear as though web browsing was the source of the problem.

Exactly, you should never open an email, especially an attachment, if you don't trust the source. Even then, if you weren't expecting an attachment, or it looks somewhat fishy, contact the person first. It's quite possible they have been hijacked and their email program is sending out spam mail getting more people infected. I have seen it more than once while doing tech support.

I can't tell you how many times I have warned people not to open attachments they're not sure of, but they always seem to do it anyway and are right back on the phone with me a week later.

As far as Linux vs Windows, well....marketing. Many times the better product doesn't win, but the better marketed product. VHS vs Beta comes to mind, beta was a superior product, smaller, better quality...VHS had the marketing behind it and beta faded away. Both gone now of course, but that is besides the point

*EDIT* I wanted to add that I think if Linux and Windows changed positions in popularity, and everyone was using Linux, there would most likely be a lot of viruses/malware targeted at Linux. Not much point for them to do it now since the average person uses Windows. There HAVE been viruses for Linux. They're just usually not that successful because the people using Linux tend to be more computer savvy. You put some of these Windows users who are getting most of these viruses and such, chances are, they will get them on Linux as well.

[edit on 8-3-2009 by Pimpish]