News Archives from 2003 (Jan 01 - Dec 31, 2003)
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Amiga
02 December 2003 - New Update of VirusExecutor v2.33 Released
Jan Erik Olausen released a new version of his virus killer. The archive
is named VirusExecutor233.lha. The PatchBrain has been updated to v1.53
PS! You have to run the update twice the first time for VE to remember
* See the VirusExecutor Readme for complete changes
* VirusExecutor Homepage at Virus Help Team Canada has links to all files
required and recommended to run VE2.33
Note Regarding The 'VirusExecutor Live Update' Files:
For the latest versions from Jan Erik Olausen, you'll need your Amiga
connected by PPP then run the Live Update within the VirusExecutor
program (menu item Utilities >> Update files). The version we have
online, may or may not be Jan Erik's latest version he has been
working on.
02 December 2003 - XAD-Master Library Bugfixes v12.1a Released
Dirk Stoecker announced on Nov 30th, the release of xadmaster.library.
These releases fix a bug with external clients in CPU-versions. Dirk's
news item states 040 was updated, but the file is for the 060 CPU. The
two CPU-versions that had been affected and now fixed, are:
xadmaster library [020]
xadmaster library [060]
01 December 2003 - Anti-Virus Boot Disk For VirusExecutor Has Been Updated
The VirusExecutor boot-floppy has the new v2.32 and PatchBrain v1.52 that
was released by Jan Erik by his Live Update November 22, 2003. Read the
VE boot disk history file for changes.
26 November 2003 - Note Regarding The 'VirusExecutor Live Update' Files
For the latest versions from Jan Erik Olausen, you'll need your Amiga
connected by PPP then run the Live Update within the VirusExecutor program
(menu item Utilities >> Update files). The version we have online, may or
may not be Jan Erik's latest version he has been working on.
26 November 2003 - New 'Live Update' of VE PatchBrain v1.52 Released
Jan Erik Olausen has a new version of his PatchBrain. You will need your
Amiga connected by PPP the run the Live Update within the VirusExecutor
program (menu item Utilities >> Update files). The version we have
online, may or may not be JEO's latest version he has been working on.
23 November 2003 - New 'Live Update' of VirusExecutor v2.32 Released
Jan Erik Olausen has a new version of his VirusExecutor. You'll need your
Amiga connected by PPP the run the Live Update within the VirusExecutor
program (menu item Utilities >> Update files). The version we have
online, may or may not be JEO's latest version he has been working on.
Changes since last version
- Changed the 'Update files' output...
- Added check for catalogs to 'Update files'...
22 November 2003 - MILL v24.11.2003 Update Now Available
Zbigniew 'Zeeball' Trzcionkowski has released a new update version of his
antivirus program MILL. He says "No bigger changes beside beta tests with
beta version of AmigaOS 4.0. My real Amiga is totally broken down. I'm
working in emulators."
Fixes since previous public version:
- improved compatibility with AmigaOS 4.0
- added Abort to Integrity while comparing
- some very minor fixes
22 November 2003 - New Site Address for MUI Classes
Jocke 'Zerohero' Sjöblom announced on Oct 30 2003, that his MUI Classes
site that has been available since Dec 2, 2002, can now be found at
http://www.zerohero.se/mui/index.php
20 November 2003 - New Update of VirusExecutor v2.31 Released
Jan Erik Olausen released a new version of his virus killer. The archive
is named VirusExecutor231.lha. The PatchBrain has been updated to v1.52
* See the VirusExecutor Readme for complete changes
* VirusExecutor Homepage at Virus Help Team Canada has links to all files
required and recommended to run VE2.31
08 November 2003 - Anti-Virus Boot Disk For VirusExecutor Has Been Updated
The VirusExecutor boot-floppy has the new v2.29 and PatchBrain v1.50 that
was released November 07, 2003. Read the VE boot disk history file for
changes.
07 November 2003 - New Update of VirusExecutor v2.29 Released
Jan Erik Olausen released a new version of his virus killer. The archive
is named VirusExecutor229.lha. The PatchBrain has been updated to v1.50
* See the VirusExecutor Readme for complete changes
* VirusExecutor Homepage at Virus Help Team Canada has links to all files
required and recommended to run VE2.29
16 October 2003 - Anti-Virus Boot Disks Updated With XAD and XFD Libs
The anti-virus boot-disks that required the new XAD or XFD libraries have
been updated and are available for download at either the Virus Help Team
Canada site or Netherlands site. Also available in the files area of the
vht-can maillist: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vht-can/files/Boot-Disks
VirusChecker-II uses the xfdmaster.library, but there is no room on the
disk to update to the latest version. Sorry
The following disks were updated as of October 16, 2003
* VirusExecutor v2.28
* VirusWorkshop v6.9
* VirusZ II v1.44 (uses LhA & LZX to unpack archives)
* VirusZ III v0.9e
15 October 2003 - XAD-Master Library v12.1 Unarchiving Tool Released
Dirk Stoecker released his latest XAD sharware library, that provides
an interface for unarchiving all possible types of file or disk archives.
Choose one of the links below, to go to your machines CPU version. The
previous XAD version can be found in the Archives Section.
xadmaster library [000]
xadmaster library [020]
xadmaster library [060]
xadmaster docs: german, french and polish
Click here to search Aminet for XAD Developer lib
15 October 2003 - xfdmaster.library v39.15 / Rel1.38 Available
Dirk Stoecker released his latest xfdmaster library. The archive is named
xfdmaster138.lha, and can be found on the downloads page by following the
above link. The previous XFD version can be found in the Archives
Section.
08 September 2003 - VirusWarning.Guide v3.5 Available
A new update of VirusWarning.guide was released September 6th, by Virus
Help Denmark. The archive is named vht-vg35.lha, and can be found on
the downloads page. Jan of Virus Help Denmark says "After a few years
where there has been found almost no new viruses or trojans for the
Amiga, we have desided to make a minor update of the VirusWarning.guide.
Some of the members of VHT has changed there email adresses, and the AV
programs has been updated."
02 July 2003 - MCC_SpeedBar MUI Custom Class v19.3 Available
Alfonso Ranieri has released a bugfixed version of his latest Magic User
Interface custom class. It is required for Voodoo-X, which is the GUI
for the XAD package.
* Author Alfonso Ranieri's SpeedBar homepage
* Jocke 'Zerohero' Sjoeblom's MUI Classes site [old site]
29 June 2003 - MCC_SpeedBar MUI Custom Class v19.2 Available
Alfonso Ranieri has released a bugfixed version of his latest Magic User
Interface custom class. It is required for Voodoo-X, which is the GUI
for the XAD package.
* Author Alfonso Ranieri's SpeedBar homepage
* Jocke 'Zerohero' Sjoeblom's MUI Classes site [old site]
08 June 2003 - Anti-Virus Boot Disk For VirusZ III Has Been Updated
The VirusZ-III boot-floppy has the new v0.9e that was released June 7th,
2003. It is now available for download at VHT-Netherlands or VHT-Canada
and soon in the files area of the vht-can maillist:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vht-can/files/Boot-Disks
07 June 2003 - Virusz III v0.9e Released
Georg Hvrmann has released a new update to this anti-virus program
VirusZ III. For full release notes, see the readme file. If this update
causes problems on your machine, you can use VirusZ II v1.44 or continue
to use the previous VirusZ III
17 May 2003 - Anti-Virus Boot Disks Updated With New Xvs Libs
The anti-virus boot-disks that required the new Xvs library have been
updated and are available for download at either the Virus Help Team
Canada site or Netherlands site. Soon available in files area of the
vht-can maillist: groups.yahoo.com/group/vht-can/files/Boot-Disks
The following disks were updated as of May 17, 2003
* VirusZ III v0.9d
* VirusZ II v1.44 (uses LhA & LZX to unpack archives)
* VirusExecutor v2.28
* VirusChecker v2.5
16 May 2003 - Bugfixed MCC_SpeedBar MUI Custom Class v19.1 Available
Alfonso Ranieri has released a bugfixed version of his latest Magic User
Interface custom class. It is required for Voodoo-X, which is the GUI
for the XAD package. Jocke 'Zerohero' Sjoeblom of the MUI Classes site
states "MCC_SpeedBar updated, and now SpeedBarCfg.mcc is fixed. Only
program I know that it failed on is Voodoo-X, but there might have been
others. Fixed, anyway :) Thanks must go to Kev Harrison for mailing Alfie
about it so quickly."
* Author Alfonso Ranieri's SpeedBar homepage
15 May 2003 - MCC_NListtree MUI Custom Class v18.18 Available
Sebastian Bauer and Carsten Scholling have released their latest Magic
User Interface custom class this past Mar 9th, 2003. It is required for
Voodoo-X, which is the GUI for the XAD package, and available now for
download. Previous MCC_NListtree versions available in Archives
15 May 2003 - MCC_NList MUI Custom Class v0.95 (20.111) Available
The NList Open Source Team along with Sebastian Bauer and Gilles Masson
have released their latest Magic User Interface custom class this past
Mar 9th, 2003. It is required for Voodoo-X, which is the GUI for the XAD
package, and available now for download. Previous MCC_NList versions
available in Archives
15 May 2003 - MCC_SpeedBar MUI Custom Class v19.0 Available
Alfonso Ranieri released his latest Magic User Interface custom class
this past May 14th, 2003. It is required for Voodoo-X, which is the GUI
for the XAD package. The MUI Classes site states "MCC_SpeedBar bumped
to v19.0, now, before you start to mail me that this archive is broken,
I know it is, but it's only some code examples, the real classes are
still ok." Previous MCC_SpeedBar versions available in Archives
13 May 2003 - New Xvs.library v33.40 Released
Georg Hvrmann has released the latest version of the antivirus External
Virus Scanner Library. This new update of the xvs.libary includes many
fixes, improvements and additions. Read the Xvs library v33.40 Readme for
further details. Updated anti-virus boot-disks will follow in a few day.
31 March 2003 - MILL v01.04.2003 Update Now Available
Zbigniew 'Zeeball' Trzcionkowski has released a new update version of his
antivirus program MILL. He says "There might be new joke/trojan around
that activated on 30.3.2003. If today pointer in Your bootmenu changed to
worm please let me, VHT-DK or VHT-CAN know!
Fixes from previous public version:
- added catala locale by Carles 'Doraemon' Bernardez (thanx!)
- none, just refresh
* Zbigniew 'Zeeball' Trzcionkowski Homepage
25 March 2002 - CheckX v1.94 Available
Dirk Stvcker released his latest version of CheckX which can scan large
files which fit not in memory (but can be handled by XAD). CheckX
detects all the viruses found by xvs.library, which contains the complete
antivirus knowledge of VirusZ utility by Georg Hvrmann, Alex van Niel and
Jan Erik Olausen. CheckX cannot remove detected viruses. You still need
antivirus software.
16 February 2003 - MCC_NListtree MUI Custom Class v18.16 Available
Sebastian Bauer and Carsten Scholling have released their latest Magic
User Interface custom class this past Feb 5th, 2003. It is required for
Voodoo-X, which is the GUI for the XAD package. It is now available for
download. The archive is named MCC_NListtree1816.lha
* Sebastian Bauer's Homepage
* Carsten Scholling's Homepage
15 February 2003 - MILL v15.02.2003 Update Now Available
Zbigniew 'Zeeball' Trzcionkowski has released a new update version of his
antivirus program MILL. He says "Sorry to say that, but nothing has
changed. Somehow I lost one source code back, so I just recoded the lost
changes to get it look like the previous public release."
* Zbigniew 'Zeeball' Trzcionkowski Homepage
Top of Page
Miscellaneous
29 December 2003 - VHT-DK server change
Jan of Virus Help Denmark notified us today of the above, and said:
"The ULR: www.vht-dk.dk is at the moment down, we are in the middle of
changing webserver. But I hope that it will work within 7 days. If U
need to get on the 'Virus Help Denmark's" website, you can use this
ULR untill the server change is done: http://home4.inet.tele.dk/vht-dk/
Sorry for all the trouble, but we just have to change server....
Kind regards - Jan Andersen - Virus Help Denmark"
19 December 2003 - Version 4.3.2 of F-Prot Antivirus for AIX Released
Frisk Software has released version 4.3.2 of F-Prot Antivirus for AIX.
This newest version of F-Prot Antivirus for AIX includes bugfixes that
allow for improved usability and provide enhanced security and
protection of your data against malicious software threats. To update
your version of F-Prot Antivirus to the latest version, please visit:
http://subscription.f-prot.com/download.html
19 December 2003 - Lawsuits attack New York spamming ring
ZDNet says Microsoft and New York's attorney general have launched a
series of lawsuits against spam senders
18 December 2003 - Philips engineering digital-content standard
ZDNet says Philips is developing an anti-piracy system that will play
video and music on any digital-media player
03 December 2003 - Hijacked PCs blamed for a third of spam
ZDNet says PCs that have been compromised by Trojans are being used by
spammers to relay vast amounts of email and avoid detection
03 December 2003 - Firewall market forecast to flare up
ZDNet says the next two years will see a 25 percent jump in demand for
firewall products, according to new research
24 November 2003 - Senior Management 'Slow To Understand Wireless Risks'
ZDNet says the proliferation of wireless networks throughout the
enterprise means IT managers must implement proper security plans. But
persuading the boss that it's worth the money could be a struggle
24 November 2003 - MI5 To Provide Terror Alerts Online
ZDNet says the security agency is to become a stronger part of the
government's online anti-terror information service
14 November 2003 - Government Ignores Web Opposition Over ID Cards
ZDNet says the Home Office consulted about the introduction of identity
cards, and thousands of Internet users opposed the idea. What happened
next?
14 November 2003 - Nokia Investigates N-Gage Hacking
ZDNet says Nokia is looking into whether hackers have cracked the
security protecting its N-Gage games
11 November 2003 - Canadian Rememberence Day 2003
Today is the eleventh day of the eleventh month. And at the eleventh
hour, people across Canada and abroad paused to remember veterans past
and present who gave their lives for Canada.
Click here to visit the Dominion Institute Digital Archive
----------------------------------------------------------------------
-<-<-@@ Least We Forget !! @@->->-
----------------------------------------------------------------------
11 November 2003 - Singapore Passes Harsh Anti-hacking Laws
ZDNet says ultra-strict Singapore has passed some of the world's toughest
laws against computer hackers and virus writers, allowing police to arrest
suspects before they strike, official documents show.
11 November 2003 - Michael Moore Attacks E-voting
ZDNet says controversial US documentary maker and author Michael Moore
has lambasted electronic voting machines being used in some US states,
claiming the technology is inherently open to misuse
06 November 2003 - Microsoft Creates $5m Virus-hunting Fund
ZDNet says representatives from the FBI, US Secret Service and Interpol
flanked Microsoft executives as the software firm announed a bounty scheme
targeting worm and virus writers
06 November 2003 - Microsoft Puts Price On Virus Writers' Heads
ZDNet says two $250,000 rewards are being offered for information that
leads to the arrest of the MSBlast and SoBig authors
06 November 2003 - Patent Ruling Creates Ripples On Net
ZDNet says a decision in a patent case brought by SightSound Technologies
against Bertelsmann subsidiaries may have implications for music and video
downloads
06 November 2003 - Stiller Research Reports: AOL Web Billing HOAX
Stiller Research says this doesn't sound like it at first glance but
this is another hoax in the Forward For Money Hoax pattern. Anytime you
see something that offers you (or someone else!) money or some benefit
for forwarding an email, you can assume it's a hoax. Read thr report
for the currently most common version of this hoax.
03 November 2003 - Medical Fears May Hamper Acceptance Of Biometrics
ZDNet says biometric systems could face a backlash from users concerned
that their eyes could be damaged by iris recognition systems, or that
their health or emotional state could be detected
30 October 2003 - AOL Shuts Windows Security Hole
ZDNet says America Online has reached out to its members' PCs and
switched off a Microsoft program that has been co-opted by spammers
30 October 2003 - Companies Warned Over Corporate Identity Theft
ZDNet says individuals have been warned about the threat of identity
theft for years. Now it's the turn of businesses
30 October 2003 - IBM Moves To Detect Privacy Threats
ZDNet says Big Blue says a new partnership will let it automatically spot
threats to identity information
26 October 2003 - New Solaris SPARC Version 4.3.0 Released
FRISK Software International has released a new version of F-Prot
Antivirus for Solaris SPARC now includes a fully featured mail scanner
with plugins for enhanced in-transit scanning of e-mails using Sendmail,
Postfix, and Qmail. They recommend that users of F-Prot Antivirus for
Solaris SPARC using Sendmail, Postfix or Qmail consider using the plugins
provided with version 4.3.0. To update to the latest version, please
visit: http://subscription.f-prot.com/download.html
* Solaris SPARC product page
26 October 2003 - NAI Reports: W32.Torch HOAX
Network Associates says this email message is just a HOAX, currently they
know of no virus that affects computer hardware as the email states. AVERT
has not received any report of a user's hard drive being destroyed as the
email describes. NAI are advising users who receive the email to delete
it and do not pass it on as this is how an email HOAX propagates. Read
the report for the actual text from the message, both in Portuguese and
English version.
26 October 2003 - US Vows To Crack Down On Spam
ZDNet says deceptive spam will be outlawed, and frustrated users will be
able to sign up to a 'do-not-spam' register
26 October 2003 - US Lawmakers To Tackle Global Piracy
ZDNet says a US congress group will pursue international alliances in an
attempt to stem American firms' losses caused by piracy
26 October 2003 - Recordable-CD Prices To Increase
ZDNet says manufacturer Memorex wants to buck the usual tech price trend
and make its products more expensive
26 October 2003 - Anti-spam Enters The Zone
ZDNet says Zone Labs is to include spam-fighting software from Cloudmark
with its products
21 October 2003 - Anti-spam Enters The Zone
ZDNet says Zone Labs is to include spam-fighting software from Cloudmark
with its products
21 October 2003 - Yahoo To Fool Spammers With Dummies
ZDNet says the Internet portal will allow subscribers to set up dummy
email addresses, which they can enter at Web sites without risking their
primary account being deluged by spam
21 October 2003 - F-Secure Reports: Welcome to the Matrix HOAX
F-Secure says this hoax that has been circulating France carries the
basic elements of a hoax that is warning about a virus. The virus is
described to be extremely dangerous and unstoppable by antivirus
industry. Please ignore these messages and don't spread them any further.
16 October 2003 - US 'Will Not Enforce' Encryption Laws
ZDNet says a lawsuit attempting to overturn Cold War-inspired encryption
laws has been overturned, with the judge saying parts of the regulations
would not longer be enforced
16 October 2003 - Employees 'More Of A Worry Than Terrorists'
ZDNet says IT directors are more concerned about the security threat
posed to systems by staff than by terrorist attacks, according to new
research
16 October 2003 - Universities Win Funding To Model Cyberterrorism
ZDNet says two Californian universities will create a network on which to
simulate terrorist attacks against the Internet
15 October 2003 - New F-Prot Antivirus Product For Sun Systems Released
FRISK Software International has released a new addition to the F-Prot
Antivirus products range: F-Prot Antivirus for Solaris SPARC. F-Prot
Antivirus for Solaris SPARC is intended for use with Sun Microsystems'
Solaris SPARC operating system. This is a valuable addition to the F-Prot
family and brings the reliable protection of F-Prot Antivirus to one of
the world's most powerful platforms. More information on F-Prot Antivirus
for Solaris SPARC can be found on the F-Prot product page
14 October 2003 - Hacker Gets Caught Unleashing "The Beast"
VirusList.com News says a US teenager is accused of stealing $47,000
from a fellow online trader after getting him to install a keystroke
tracking spyware program known as The Beast.
08 October 2003 - Modems Are Still A Viable Point Of Attack
VirusList.com News says hackers put "war dialling" back in vogue. The old
but apparently not outdated technique known as war dialing is once again
being used by hackers to gain unauthorized access to corporate networks.
War dialing is the process of scanning telephone lines for unprotected
modems. Twenty years ago hackers regularly penetrated systems through
modem connections, then as higher bandwidth connections became the norm
the practice died off. Today war dialing is back as hackers react to
increased network security and the fact that many organisations have
simply neglected to confront the risk posed by the use of modems.
* WarGames made in 1993 was a great movie (comments from Charlene)
08 October 2003 - F-Prot(TM) BSD v4.2.0 Antivirus Available
Version 4.2.0 of F-Prot(TM) Antivirus for BSD has been released by FRISK
Software on Oct 8, 2003. F-Prot Antivirus for Linux / BSD Mail Servers
scans e-mail messages and attachments and detects, disinfects and deletes
malicious programs, such as Trojan Horses. Version 4.2.0 provides enhanced
in-transit scanning of incoming e-mail using Postfix and Qmail. These
additions provide for improved usability of F-Prot Antivirus for BSD and
enhanced end-user security. We recommend that users of F-Prot Antivirus
for BSD using Postfix or Qmail consider using the plugins provided with
version 4.2.0. To update your BSD Antivirus to version 4.1.1 visit the
BSD Download Center
08 October 2003 - Hi-Tech Crime Unit Probes Viruses For Terrorism Links
ZDNet says the British task force is working with antivirus firms to
identify patterns in virus code and trace their source
07 October 2003 - F-Secure Reports: Lottery HOAX
F-Secure says this is another type of money transfer hoax, trying to
convince people that they have won a lottery. Naturally no money is
ever paid out and all kinds of transfer fees are collected from un-
informed people who answer.
07 October 2003 - Theft Of Game Code Fuels Hacking Fears
ZDNet says future players of the eagerly anticipated Half Life 2, due out
later this year, could be at risk after its entire source code was stolen
07 October 2003 - VeriSign Relents On Browser 'Hijack'
ZDNet says the administrator of the .com and .net domains will no longer
redirect searches for nonexistent domain names to its Web site, after a
letter from Icann
02 October 2003 - Symantec On Alert After Surge In Net Activity
ZDNet says an unexplained rise in domain name server-related traffic
worldwide may be related to a Trojan on the loose, says the antivirus
firm
02 October 2003 - Innocent Surfers Can Appear Guilty Of Song-swapping
ZDNet says flaws in file-sharing can incriminate unwitting users, tricking
them into seeming guilty of hosting copyrighted files
02 October 2003 - Instant Messaging and P2P Attacks Skyrocket
ZDNet says Symantec has said that although Internet attacks are
increasing, severe attacks are down compared to last year
26 September 2003 - F-Secure Reports: Got You HOAX
This hoax tries to convince the user to believe in it with a segment of
text that looks like code. It says in part "Now it's your turn to have
your computer infected.This WORM it is undetectable by AntiVirus software
and it will drive your computer crazy because it's always hiding and
causing havoc in your system." F-Secure asks that you please ignore these
messages and don't spread them any further.
* See also NAI Reports: Payback HOAX
26 September 2003 - NAI Reports: Payback HOAX
McAfee AVERT Labs says this email message is just a HOAX, currently we
know of no messages that the user will receive which contain scripts or
attachments that would cause symptoms such as the HOAX states. They are
advising users who receive the email to delete it and DO NOT pass it on
as this is how an email HOAX propagates.
* See also F-Secure Reports: Got You HOAX
26 September 2003 - U.S. State Department Blames The Welchia Virus
VirusList.com News says on September 23rd CLASS ceased to function for
several hours due to the detection of a computer virus, and thus, for
that time nowhere in the world was a U.S. visa issued. CLASS is the State
Department's Consular Lookout and Support System, which contains more
than 12.8 million records from the FBI, the State Department and U.S.
immigration, drug-enforcement and intelligence agencies. Among the
records are the names of at least 78,000 suspected terrorists.
26 September 2003 - US Quarantines Visa System After Virus Attack
ZDNet says an attack of the Welchia worm lead the US Department of State to
shut down its system for filtering visa applications in search of potential
terrorists
26 September 2003 - Microsoft Chatroom Closure Is 'Irresponsible'
ZDNet says a Microsoft rival has criticised MSN's 'moral' stance on
chatroom closure, and said that greater investment could lead to a safer
online environment
26 September 2003 - Microsoft Closes 'Unsafe' Chat Rooms
ZDNet says Microsoft will shut chat rooms in 28 countries because of the
risks it claims are posed by paedophiles
09 September 2003 - F-Prot(TM) BSD v4.1.1 Antivirus Available
Version 4.1.1 of F-Prot(TM) Antivirus for BSD has been released by FRISK
Software on Sep 5, 2003. F-Prot Antivirus for Linux / BSD Mail Servers
scans e-mail messages and attachments and detects, disinfects and deletes
malicious programs, such as Trojan Horses. F-Prot Antivirus for Linux /
BSD Mail Servers supports the most popular mail servers running on UNIX,
for instance Sendmail, Qmail and Postfix, when used with procmail. To
update your BSD Antivirus to version 4.1.1 visit the BSD Download Center
If you want to try other F-Prot(TM) products visit Frisk's Download Center
* Documentation for F-Prot Antivirus for BSD
* FTP site for F-Prot(TM) Antivirus BSD Software
28 August 2003 - Warning System Blamed in Massive Blackout
The Washington Post story says that a low-tech telephone hot line network
and the way it was used, didn't do enough to send out warnings of
problems on the electric power grid before the nation's worst blackout,
power officials and politicians said. Premier Ernie Eves of Ontario
complained that U.S. power managers did not notify their Canadian counter-
parts about the problems, as required under protocols developed after a
1965 blackout across much of the same region. Failures in Ohio transmission
lines prompted at least three conversations last Thursday between
FirstEnergy Corp., the utility that owns them, and the industry group that
manages transmission across much of the Midwest, said Mary Lynn Webster,
a spokeswoman for the Midwest Independent Transmission System Operator.
28 August 2003 - Slammer Worm Crashed Ohio Nuke Plant Network in 2002
Security Focus says a computerized safety monitoring system at the
Davis-Besse nuclear plant was crippled after the worm entered through
the business network of the plant's operator, FirstEnergy Corp. The
Davis-Besse plant is operated by FirstEnergy Corp., the Ohio utility
company that's become the focus of an investigation into the north-
eastern U.S. blackout last week.
* WashingtonPost: Warning System Blamed in Massive Blackout
23 August 2003 - Southern Ontario Power Useage Lifted on Saturday
Our power grid that services Souhtern Ontario is back at 100%. We were
told Saturday, that we are once again allowed to use our power as usual,
so Virus Help Team Canada will be updated. Not a lot of fun being without
computer use for over a week, since the power blackout on Thur Aug 14th.
Sorry for any inconvenience, and also to those of you that have sent us
requests for help - we will be a little slow in getting your letters
answered.
16 August 2003 - Power Blackout Effects Virus Help Team Canada
Due to the power grid problems in the north-eastern US and Canada, the
Virus Help Team Canada will not be updated. We are experiencing rotating
power in southern Ontario Canada, so therfore I will not be using my
computer. We survived the 1998 ice storm, so we will survive this also.
Till later...
14 August 2003 - Microsoft Braces as Web Worm Prepares to Attack
Reuters says like sharp-shooters armed and ready to fire, hundreds of
thousands of computers are poised to let fly a potentially crippling data
attack on a lone Web site belonging to software giant Microsoft Corp.
Starting on Saturday, August 16, each computer infected by the "Blaster"
Internet worm will begin sending packets of data several times per second
to the Microsoft site in an attempt to knock it offline.
12 August 2003 - F-Secure Reports: C-Nile HOAX
F-Secure says this is actually a joke describing symptoms of old age, but
since there is mention about it not being detected by antivirus software
it can be classified as a hoax. Since I (Charlene of VHT-Canada), thought
this was hilarious, I've included the actual hoax text:
---Begin Hoax Text -------------------------------------------
Subject: C-Nile Virus
Body of Message: I don't normally pass on virus warnings but I just got
this from a reliable source.
It seems that there is a virus out there called the C-nile Virus
that even the most advanced programs from Norton cannot take
care of, so be warned, it appears to affect those of us who were
born before 1948.
Symptoms of C-nile Virus:
1. Causes you to send same e-mail twice.
2. Causes you to send blank e-mail.
3. Causes you to send to wrong person.
4. Causes you to send back to person who sent it to you.
5. Causes you to forget to attach the attachment.
6. Causes you to hit "SEND" before you've finished the
---End Hoax Text ---------------------------------------------
12 August 2003 - Zone Labs Targets IM Security
ZDNet says the security specialist has bought a company that provides
software protecting instant messaging applications.
12 August 2003 - Cybercriminals Target Online Gamers
ZDNet says South Korea leads the world in its population's enthusiastic
approach to the Internet and the latest technology, but cybercrime is a
growing problem. A spokesman for South Korea's National Police Agency
(NPA) told The Korea Times that cybercriminals are becoming increasingly
organised, and target online gaming sites in the hope of defrauding the
services and converting cybermoney into hard cash.
12 August 2003 - Language Translation Tools at Google
If English is not your primary language, and you have difficulty reading
or understanding our site, then you can have it translated to a number of
other languages using the Google Language Tool. Pages can be translated
from English to either German, Spanish, French, Italian or Portuguese,
just by entering the url of the page you desire to have translated.
05 August 2003 - New versions of F-Prot Antivirus products released
Frisk Software International announced on 05-Aug-2003, the release of
the latest F-Prot Antivirus products. These version include a new
scanning engine, offering enhanced handling of e-mail messages and
updated protection against future unknown threats. These enhancements
are vital to the computer's protection and users of F-Prot Antivirus
products are therefore urged to update their programs as soon as
possible. The new version of F-Prot Antivirus products FRISK Software
International is releasing today are:
Product Version Release date
F-Prot Antivirus for Windows 3.14a 5 August 2003
F-Prot Antivirus for Exchange 1.0.2 5 August 2003
F-Prot Antivirus for DOS 3.14a 5 August 2003
F-Prot Antivirus for Linux 4.1.2 2 August 2003
F-Prot Antivirus for BSD 4.1.1 5 August 2003
F-Prot Antivirus for AIX 4.2.1 5 August 2003
F-Prot Antivirus for Solaris,Intel and Sparc versions
4.2.1-beta-1 5 August 2003
F-Prot Antivirus for Linux on S/390 4.2.1-beta-1 5 August 2003
For more information on the most current versions of F-Prot Antivirus
products and the latest virus signature files for F-Prot Antivirus
products, visit F-Prot currrent versions page
03 August 2003 - As Warned, Mass Hack Attack Takes Place
Kaspersky Lab says as the US government had warned the beginning of July,
the site defacing competition did indeed take place Sunday, July 6th,
though it probably did not go as smoothly as participants had hoped.
10 July 2003 - Our Services At Bravenet Are Messed Up
The Bravenet Services that we use are having a major overhaul, and they
are not working as they used to. Sorry for any inconvenience.
03 July 2003 - F-Secure Reports: jdbgmgr.exe Virus HOAX
F-Secure says please note that in January 2003 there appeared a trojan
called Dasmin that uses jdbgmrg.exe as file name. More information at
http://www.f-secure.com/v-descs/dasmin.shtml
F-Secure says in April 2002 there appeared a hoax message concerning a
new virus that was reportedly discovered in Windows utility JDBGMGR.EXE.
The jdbgmgr is a standard windows component found in every windows
installation, it is used as Java debugger manager in Microsoft Java
runtime engine. The icon of the original JDBGMGR.EXE file for some reason
looks like a teddy bear. Alias: Teddy Bear hoax
According to Microsoft's website:
"If you follow the e-mail message instructions and delete this file, you
do not have to recover it unless you use Microsoft Visual J++ 1.1 to
develop Java programs on Windows XP, Windows NT 4.0, Windows 98 Second
Edition, Windows 98, or Windows 95." If you have deleted jdbgmgr.exe,
please see Microsoft knowledgebase article Q322993 for further
instructions:
http://support.rosoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q322993
F-Secure asks that you please ignore this hoax or anything similar,
warning about jdbgmgr.exe and don't pass it on.
01 July 2003 - Canadians - July 1st Canada Day
Today Canada celebrates it's 136th birthday. Go Canada!!!
||||| ./\.
||||| _|\| |/|_ H A P P Y 136 th B I R T H D A Y
||||| \ /
||||| }_/||\_{ Greetings from C-eh?-N-eh?-D-eh? ;)
* Drop by the Live Java-free VHT Webchat and say hi
* Leave a birthday wish on Charlene's online forum
27 June 2003 - Spammers Conscript Home PCs To Do Dirty Work
ZDNet says junk emailers are using viruses to hijack consumers' PCs and
relay spam
26 June 2003 - Australians Make Xbox Hack Freely Available
ZDNet says the design for a 'mod chip' that bypasses Xbox security
features has been released under an open-source licence
26 June 2003 - NAI Reports: SlipperyMouse JOKE
Network Associates says "SlipperyMouse joke" is neither a virus nor a
trojan. It is a detection of the "program" type (under non-malicious but
sometimes unwanted objects are detected). When executed, this program
will cause the mouse cursor to slip around the desktop, making it hard
to click on items.
22 June 2003 - F-Secure Reports: Free Flights HOAX
F-Secure says this is a chain letter and a complete hoax. There is no way
to track e-mail like this. Although this one is not related to viruses at
all, they are listing it as it has become seriously widespread. Do not
forward the message. Read the report for an example of the chain letter.
22 June 2003 - Nintendo Wins Internet Piracy Case
ZDNet says a Hong Kong judge has ruled in favour of Nintendo after a
pirate posted its games online
22 June 2003 - US Senator Suggests Destroying Song-Swappers' PCs
ZDNet says a prominent US lawmaker says in some cases the only way to
stop illegal trading of copyrighted materials over the Internet might be
to destroy the traders' computers
11 June 2003 - Sun Loosens Java Licence, Changes Logo
ZDNet says Sun Microsystems is about to loosen the licensing terms of
Java and spend millions promoting its use in business and consumer
devices - such as mobile phones
11 June 2003 - Spam Blacklist Blocks BT
ZDNet says BT customers are finding that their email is being blocked as
spam by a blacklist service because it says BT's email servers are
'insecure or abuseable'
05 June 2003 - NAI Reports: W32.MFG.Tassos@mm HOAX
Network Associates says this email message is just a HOAX. There is no
virus called W32.MFG.Tassos@mm and therefore also no 'removal tool'
available. (Note: The 'Manual Detection and desinfection' as described
within the hoax may harm your system!) NAI are advising users who receive
the email to delete it and DO NOT pass it on as this is how an email HOAX
propagates.
05 June 2003 - F-Secure Reports: Nokia phone promotion HOAX
F-Secure reports this is a typical variant of giveaway chain letter.
Typical for these hoaxes is that the hoax claims that some company is
using email tracking system and is asking recipient to forward the
message to several persons for reward. Nokia Group confirms that no
such promotion exists. Also known as: Free nokia giveaway hoax. F-Secure
asks that you please ignore these messages and don't spread them any
further.
05 June 2003 - Governments' Demands May Derail Cybercrime Unit
ZDNet says a European agency designed to combat cybercrime may not be up
and running as planned because of the level of monitoring wanted by
member countries
05 June 2003 - Cybersecurity & You: Five Tips Every Consumer Should Know
Security Focus has an interesting article written by Brian Krebs of the
Washington Post. Mr. Krebs goes into detail on his following 5 tips:
1. Install and use a firewall
2. Use anti-virus software and update virus definitions regularly
3. Create secure, original passwords
4. Update your computer(s) with the latest vendor security patches
5. Practice basic e-mail and downloading "street smarts"
01 June 2003 - Sony Division To Offer Self-destructing Movie Downloads
ZDNet says Sony's Japanese ISP is adopting digital rights management
technology that lets consumers play downloaded movie files from the hard
drive, while reducing piracy risks
28 May 2003 - Mobile Phones To Get Palladium-style Chips
ZDNet says ARM is to integrate security into its popular processor cores
for mobile devices, paving the way for Palladium-style secure systems
28 May 2003 - Stolen PCs Can 'Ping' Their Real Owner
ZDNet says Phoenix and Softex have created a tool that can be built into
a desktop PC and, if stolen, allow that PC to contact its owner, even if
its hard drive has been replaced
22 May 2003 - Sony's Robot Dog Learns A New Trick
ZDNet says Sony's robot dog - Aibo - has been given new powers with a
software program called Aibo Eyes, which allows it to 'beam' digital
images to its owner
12 May 2002 - Security & Privacy Research Center Article: On the Offense
Alarmed, the Security & Privacy Research Center asks "Is it time for
information security to quit being so defensive?" Written by Sarah D.
Scalet, she says Lance Spitzer is doing what most CIOs and CSOs cant
afford to do. As the founder of the Honeynet Project, a three-year-old
nonprofit research group,he is sitting back and watching the hackers,
just to see what theyll dream up next.
10 May 2003 - Microsoft Plans X-Box Live Update
ZDNet says while Xbox Live subscribers can chat with each other using an
Xbox Communicator headset and broadband links, communicating requires
players to be inside a game. After the upgrades, the sources said,
players will be able to turn on their Xboxes, see who among their friends
is online, and engage them in voice chats in community settings that do
not even require a game to be inside the console. Other add-ons coming
soon to the console include the ability to use the Xbox as a sort of
media centre, to listen to digital music and watch videos in their
living rooms.
07 May 2003 - New Feature Announced At VHT-Netherlands
IRC chatting is now available with Virus Help Team Netherlands. The link
on the website is a javaapplet that requires you to enable Java scripting
among other things. Read the notice for a complete rundown.
07 May 2003 - F-Secure Reports: Blue Mountain HOAX
F-Secure says this is a hoax about a virus in the Blue Mountain Arts web
greeting cards. No such virus exists, and since these greeting cards are
not programs but simple web pages, they can not contain viruses anyway.
Read the report for a statement from the Executive Director of Blue
Mountain Arts. F-Secure asks that you please ignore these messages and
don't spread them any further.
07 May 2003 - Text Change For Canada Mourns Her Fallen Troops
The text on our entry page, concerning our Canadian troops loosing
their lives in Afghanistan on April 17th, 20002 has been changed. This
change should reflect more acurately, that these troops were killed and
injured as a result of the war on terrorism. This change was due to
concerned feedback from mark c.
* Click here for Contact Form if you have polite comments or suggestions
01 May 2003 - 'Fluffi Bunni' Hacking Suspect Arrested
ZDNet says Police say that Lynn Htun, arrested in London, may be the
mastermind behind a series of mysterious Web attacks. Fluffi Bunni has
been active for more than two years, hacking into sites ranging from
McDonald's site to those of Net security specialists SANS Institute and
Symantec's virus detection group, SecurityFocus, according to sources.
01 May 2003 - AOL Will Charge For Virus Protection
ZDNet says AOL is going to charge its subscribers for anti-virus services
in an effort to increase revenues following a slump in advertising
18 April 2003 - 'Good Friday': Beginning of Easter
|
\ /
.---.
'-. | | .-'
___| |___
-= [ ] =-
`---. .---'
__||__ | | __||__
'-..-' | | '-..-'
|| | | ||
||_.-| |-,_||
.-"` `"`'` `"-.
.' '.jgs
-=[ crosses at Calvary ]=-
17 April 2003 - One Year Ago Tonight...
.-.
__| |__
[__ __]
| | A year ago tonight our Canadian Soldiers were hit by
| | the U.S. 'friendly fire' in Afghanastan. Four of our
| | troops were killed and many injured. (ascii by jgs)
'-'
17 April 2003 - Trusted Computing Raises Privacy Fears
ZDNet says RSA: 'Hold the keys to your own computer' is the message from
cryptographers at the RSA Conference
15 April 2003 - SurfControl Tool Blocks IM, P2P Networks
ZDNet says web filtering company SurfControl has introduced new tech-
nology that helps companies block instant messaging -- an application
beloved by employees but a headache for some information technology
managers. The company launched SurfControl Instant Message Filter, which
lets companies thwart staff from installing and using IM applications
from companies such as AOL Time Warner, Yahoo! and MSN. In addition, the
tool stops employees from using peer-to-peer networks such as Kazaa,
which can be technologically cumbersome to corporate networks.
14 April 2003 - Hackers Lured Into Sweeter Honeypot
ZDNet says the Honeynet group, which designs decoys to lure hackers away
from corporate networks, is making its software more powerful and easier
to use
14 April 2003 - Software Tweak May Make Operating Systems Safer
ZDNet says the OpenBSD project is making changes in its latest operating
system release that it believes could eliminate a class of security bugs
that has plagued computers for decades
11 April 2003 - F-Prot Antivirus For AIX Released
Frisk Software International announced on 09-Apr-2003, the release of
the latest AIX product, which is designed for IBM's RISC System 6000
(RS/6000) machine, running the AIX Operating System, version 4.3 or
compatible. Visit the F-Prot Antivirus for AIX page.
07 April 2003 - Hacker Eyes Xbox Reward
ZDNet says the $100,000 reward promised by Lindows founder Michael
Robertson could have been won by a hacker who found a buffer overflow
flaw in a 007 Xbox game. A hacker using the name Habibi-Xbox revealed
the exploit on Saturday in a message posted on the Xbox Hacker Web site.
Organizers of the Xbox-Linux Project confirmed the method works.
04 April 2003 - F-Secure Reports: Life is beatiful HOAX
F-Secure says the described virus warning is a hoax. It starts off as
"This information arrived this morning, from Microsoft and Norton. Please
send it to everybody you know who accesses the Internet. You may receive
an apparently harmless email with a PowerPoint presentation called 'Life
is beautiful.pps.'.." See the hoax warning for the original hoax message
plus the German, Spanich French and Italian translations. F-Secure asks
that you please ignore this hoax and do not forward it.
02 April 2003 - F-Prot(TM) Antivirus for FreeBSD v3.13 Released
Version 3.12d of F-Prot(TM) Antivirus, for Windows, Linux and BSD has been
released by FRISK Software and is now ready for download. Version 3.13
includes a new scanning engine providing even greater protection against
computer security threats. The release of F-Prot(TM) Antivirus for DOS is
expected to follow within the next few days. To update your registered
version of F-Prot Antivirus to version 3.13 visit Frisk's Update Center
and select the platform-version you want to update. If you want to try
F-Prot(TM) Antivirus for Windows, or other F-Prot(TM) Antivirus products,
visit Frisk's Download Center for trial versions.
21 March 2003 - CDC Extends SARS Travel Advisory
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today extended its
travel advisory for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) to include
all of mainland China as well as Hanoi, Vietnam and Singapore. The death
toll to date in Canada, has reached four.
* CDC Travelers' Alerts
* CDC Travelers' Outbreaks
* For public inquiries, call Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC) hotline: English 888-246-2675, Espaqol 888-246-2857, TTY
866-874-2646.
31 March 2003 - CBC News: Ottawa Marchers Wave The Red, White and Blue
Story at CBC Canada, says that pouring rain in Ottawa didn't stop thou-
sands of people from gathering on Parliament Hill Saturday for a rally in
support of the US-led war in Iraq. Those attending said Ottawa should be
a more supportive ally, and that Americans need to know at this time that
many Canadians support efforts to oust Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
28 March 2003 - F-Prot Antivirus For AIX Released
Frisk Software International announced on 21-Mar-2003, the release of
the latest AIX product. Visit the AIX product page for more information
on F-Prot Antivirus for AIX
28 March 2003 - F-Prot Antivirus For Exchange Released
Frisk Software International announced on 18-Mar-2003, the release of
the latest Microsoft Exchange Server product. Visit the Exchange page
for more information on F-Prot Antivirus for Exchange
28 March 2003 - FBI To Investigate Al-Jazeera Web Hijack
ZDNet says following a week of being targeted by pro-US hackers, the FBI
has decided to launch an investigation into the attacks
27 March 2003 - Top Hackers News Specials From ZDNet
Some of the more interesting news headlines:
* Al-Jazeera site hijacked
Days after suffering a DoS attack, Al-Jazeera's domain name has been
hijacked by hackers
* Al-Jazeera suffers DoS attack
Within hours of an English version of Al-Jazeera's Web site coming
online, it was blown away by a denial of service attack
* Arab news site suffers outages
The Arabic and newly-launched English Web sites of the controversial
Al-Jazeera news agency have come under strain from high traffic and
possible external attacks
25 March 2003 - Virus Help Teams Webchat Has New Temporary Location
The server that hosts the Virus Help Teams Webchat is changing locations
from Seattle to Denver. Due to the move, the webchat is presently housed
at an altenate location.
25 March 2003 - NAI Reports: application Butterfly JOKE
Network Associates says this detection is for a joke application. It is
not a trojan or virus. It serves only to amuse/annoy the user. When run,
the Start Menu button on the Windows task bar is hidden. It is replaced
by a floating image containing an image of a butterfly and the string
"Start" (in Russian). No changes are made to the system file system or
Registry. Read the report for Removal Instructions.
24 March 2003 - Anti-war Hackers Strike The US Navy
ZDNet says since the US and UK began military action against Iraq, online
protesters have attacked a number of Web sites with anti-war slogans
21 March 2003 - CDC Worldwide Alert: Pneumonia Alert Updated March 20, 2003
This is an update to the March 15th Interim Travel Advisory which now
includes "Hong Kong, Guangdong Province, People's Republic of China, and
Hanoi, Vietnam". As of March 20, 2003, the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention (CDC) has received reports from World Health Organization
(WHO) of 306 cases outside of the U.S. of a severe form of pneumonia,
also called severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). CDC has reported 13
U.S. cases to WHO. Because SARS has appeared to spread rapidly, the
Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Dr. Gro Harlem
Brundtland, issued emergency guidance for travelers and airlines so that
symptomatic people receive immediate health care, are brought to the
attention of public health authorities, and are advised against travel
while ill. The CDC previously had received reports of outbreaks in Hong
Kong SAR, Vietnam, and Guangdong, a province in southern China, Canada,
Indonesia, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand.
* CDC Travelers' Alerts
* CDC Travelers' Outbreaks
* For public inquiries, call Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC) hotline: English 888-246-2675, Espaqol 888-246-2857, TTY
866-874-2646.
20 March 2003 - "E-Bomb" - A New Threat To Computer Systems
VirusList.com News says in addition to the already long list of threats
faced by computers, such as worms, Trojan programs, hackers, spam, DoS
attacks, mail bombs, bugs, power surges, etc., there is supposedly a new
one - the "E-Bomb". An e-bomb is an actual military weapon, an actual
bomb that has been under development for decades. When detonated it is
the ultimate power surge in the form of a brief and highly concentrated
emission of microwaves. The payload, in the form of microwave pulses
can melt silicon chips by overloading them with electricity far beyond
intended capacity.
20 March 2003 - As The Missiles Fly, So Do The Messages
ZDNet says the beginning of war on Iraq has prompted a surge of online
discussion and text messaging, as users seek out information and respond
with their own instant feedback
19 March 2003 - Text Message Kills Mobile Phones
ZDNet says two Siemens phones are rendered useless by a short SMS that
locks up the handsets' software, the company has admitted. The emails
contain a single word, taken from the phone's language menu, surrounded
by quote marks and preceded by an asterisk, such as "*English" or
"*Deutsch", Siemens said.
17 March 2003 - Another Year, Another Saint Patrick's Day
.-----. ()()
/ \ .'()
|__...__|/
|_....._|
.-' ___ '-.
\_.-`a a`-._/
__ .--. _ (|\ (_) /|)
.-;.-"-.-;`_;-, ( \_=_/ )
.(_( `)-;___),-;_), _(_ _)_
(.( `\.-._)-.( ). ) /` ||'-'|| `\
,(_`'--;.__\ _).;--'`_) _ /_/ (_>o<_) \_\
// )`--..__ ``` _( o )'(';,)\_//| || : || |\\
\;' ````` `\\ '.\\--' |`"""""""`|//
/ Happy ':.___// \___,___/\_(
| '---'| |__|__|
; Saint Patrick's Day ; ;""|"";
\ / [] | []
'. .' .' / \ '.
'-,.__ __.,jgs `--' `--'
(___/`````````\___)
16 March 2003 - CDC Worldwide Alert: Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome
The Center For Disease Control (CDC) issues health alert about atypical
pneumonia. In response to reports of increasing numbers of cases of an
atypical pneumonia that the World Health Organization (WHO) has called
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention (CDC) announced several steps to alert health authorities
at local and state levels. CDC activated its emergency operations center
on Friday, March 14, upon learning of several cases reported in Canada
among travelers recently returned from Southeast Asia and their family
members.
* CDC Media Relations - Telebriefing Transcript - March 15, 2003
CDC's Response to Atypical Pneumonia in Southeast Asia and Canada
* CDC Travelers' Health - Interim Travel Advisories and Outbreaks
* Travel Advisory: Updated March 15, 2003; Released March 13, 2003
As of March 15, 2003, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC) has received reports of outbreaks of a severe form of pneumonia
in Hong Kong SAR, Vietnam, and Guangdong, a province in southern
China, Canada, Indonesia, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand, which
appears to have spread rapidly. For this reason, the Director General
of the World Health Organization (WHO), Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland,
issued emergency guidance for travelers and airlines so that
symptomatic persons receive immediate health care, are brought to the
attention of public health authorities, and are advised against travel
while ill. Read the advisory for the CDC guidelines.
16 March 2003 - NAI Reports: Tax Return HOAX
McAfee AVERT Labs would like to inform you of a new email HOAX. This
email message is just a HOAX. AVERT has not received any report of a
user's tax returns being redirected as described in the email. They are
advising users who receive the email to delete it and DO NOT pass it on
as this is how an email HOAX propagates. Read the report for the actual
text from the message that may be received via email. It is available in
the Portuguese Version and English Translation.
23 February 2003 - Webchat Available To Non-Registered Chatters
The chat-registration has been suspended for the time being. You only
need to login with your handle for now. The server that houses the vht
webchat is not presently password-protected, but if people ignore the
rules, then webchat will once again be only for registered chatters.
23 February 2003 - Virus Help Teams Online Forum Experienced Problems
Due to the following Bravenet notice, the forums etc. were not available:
"We are currently experiencing technical and power issues. We are
working hard on the problem and hope to have everything back online
shortly. Thank you for your patience."
20 February 2003 - VirusList News: Microsoft Goes After Hotmail Spammers
VirusList.com News says in addition to a recent conserted effort to
filter free flowing spam from its Hotmail service, Microsoft is taking a
swing at spammers themselves. The company is seeking unspecified damages
in a law suit against a group of hackers who broke into Microsoft's
servers in Mountain View, California and stole a large number of Hotmail
email addresses.
18 February 2003 - Security Issue Items Now On The Proper Page
Re-organized some of the news items that had to do with security issues
to the proper page.
17 February 2003 - Cyber Insurance Leaps Into The Business Mainstream
VirusList.com News says the post-9/11 focus on security of all types,
combined with increased hacker activity and devastating virus attacks
such as the costly recent encounter with the "Helkern" worm, have
propelled cyber insurance from a mere curiosity into an emerging, standard
and ubiquitous insurance product.
14 February 2003 - Free Valentines Poems and Poetry
.-. .-. .-. .-. .-. .-. .-. .-. .-. .-. .-. .-. .-. .-.
( ` )( ` )( ` )( ` )( ` )( ` )( ` )
`. .' `. .' `. .' `. .' `. .' `. .' `. .'
`.' `.' `.' `.' `.' `.' `.'
H A P P Y V A L E N T I N E S D A Y !!
14 February 2003 - Valentine's Day A Good Day For Spam and Malware
VirusList.com News says with love in the air Saint Valentine's Day is a
day when computer users too often let their guard down. Kaspersky reminds
us to help keep yourself from becoming a victim, in addtion to running
updated anti-virus and anti-spam software, please refrain from opening
e-cards from addresses you don't know and stay away from any suspicious
messages seeking to lure you in with social engineering tactics.
* Click for more information about Valentines viruses
14 February 2003 - "Defensive Thinking" Finds Itself On the Defensive
VirusList.com News says what goes around comes around...sort of. The Los
Angeles based information security consulting firm, Defensive Thinking
Inc., recently had its web server hacked, twice. Ordinarily this would
not be very interesting, but things are different when the former king of
hackers, Kevin Mitnick, owns the company.
14 February 2003 - VirusList News: Hacker / Extortionist Strikes Nerds
VirusList.com News says the FBI and the Secret Service want to find
"Zilterio", the hacker and extortionist believed to be the evildoer
behind at least four website break-ins over the past eight months.
14 February 2003 - Cyber Warfare No Longer Just A Theory
VirusList.com News says the US government is reportedly setting its
cyber warfare policies for how it would react to and launch cyber
attacks.
06 February 2003 - The Virus Help Teams Webchat Is Back Online
Webchat is back. You can now login to the server that houses the teams
chat service. Happy chatting, and sorry for the 'extended' delay.
06 February 2003 - VirusList.com News: "Helkern" - The Fastest Ever
The Helkern" worm is confirmed to be by far the fasted spreading
computer virus ever. In just ten minutes, approximately the same amount
of time between each alarm clock "snooze", Helkern (aka Slammer, aka
Sapphire) screamed around the globe, leaving a trail of havoc in its
wake. In the first minute of the Helkern outbreak, the worm doubled its
number every 8.5 seconds, reports the Cooperative Association for
Internet Data Analysis (CAIDA). To fully appreciate this statistic we
must compare it to what was previously viewed as a fast spreading worm
- Code-Red, which eighteen months ago managed to double every 37 minutes.
04 February 2003 - Virus Help Teams Webchat Still Not Available
The server that houses the webchat was being moved a few days ago, and
was expected to take between 3-4 hours to complete. It apparently has
taken much longer. Sorry for the delay, but there is nothing we can do
about the situation, and patience is called for. Hopefully it will not
be too much longer to get back into the webchat.
04 February 2003 - The Virus Top Twenty and Review for January 2003
VirusList.com News says Kaspersky Labs presents a review of computer
virus activity for January 2003. The I-Worm.Klez sits at number one,
with 16.65 percent of the registerred incidences. Win32.FunLove is last
in the list at 0.65 percent
01 February 2003 - New Contact Adjustment At Virus Help Netherlands
Alex changed the way to contact the vht-nl. He says "basically what he
did was remove the e-mail address and replace it with a form." I find
using a form for contact purposes to be a much better way for websites,
and peoples privacy in general.
01 February 2003 - Recording Industry Association Attacked But Not Slammed
VirusList.com News says while avoiding "Helkern the Slammer", the RIAA
remains a favorite target. The Recording Industry Association of America
(RIAA) has a very popular web site, perhaps too popular. The site,
www.riaa.org, is one of the most targeted by hackers, who have a special
"love" for the site in a reaction to the association's struggle against
Internet file sharing. According to the RIAA much file sharing, as is
done via sites such as Kazaa and Morpheus, violates copyright laws.
An RIAA official called the attacking hackers "pathetic" and pointed out
their hypocrisy, "it is ironic that they want free music but do not
believe in free speech".
28 January 2003 - New PGP v8.0 Keyfile From Alex van Niel
Alex van Niel of Virus Help Team Netherlands, released his new v8.0 of
his PGP keyfile. It is compatable with PGP 2.6.3 and therfore can be
added to any pgp version of your keyring.
28 January 2003 - VirusList.com News: Houston Airport Suffers "Helkern" Attack
Kaspersky Lab says fast spreading virus grounds flights. The "Helkern"
epidemic that started in earnest on Jan. 25th when the worm virus, at
speeds not seen before, spread around the globe infecting thousands of
servers running un-patched versions of Microsoft SQL Server 2000. The
worm managed to disrupt and slow down Internet services the world over.
The country hardest hit by the "Helkern" epidemic is the U.S., register-
ing almost half of the total server infections. The FBI has launched a
search for Helkern's source.
25 January 2003 - VHT-NL Website Has Been Updated
The Virus Help Team Netherlands has been updated. Alex says he is "also
going to restart the dutch version of this site and I will keep that
just as up to date as the english site will be." This will be quite a
workload, but well worth it to the Dutch speaking community. Thankyou
Alex for the updated site and kind words.
25 January 2003 - Mobile Phone "Hot Potato" May Have Saved Bin Laden
VirusList.com News says Osama Bin Laden may have escaped the battle of
Tora Bora simply by passing off his mobile phone to a loyal Moroccan
bodyguard who then distanced himself from Bin Laden and his entourage.
23 January 2003 - VirusList.com News: Telecom Suffers Huge Data Theft
In what could be one of the largest ever thefts of personal data, up to
5 million customers of Mobile Telesystems (often referred to by its
acronym MTS), a Russian mobile phone operator, have had their credit
card, address and social security details stolen. Amazingly, the stolen
data has been found circulating the streets of Moscow on CDs.
22 January 2003 - Welsh Virus Writer Gets Two Years
ZDNet says the author of Gokar and Redesi is jailed after incriminating
himself by boasting of his actions in an internet chatroom
22 January 2003 - Game Server Flaw Poses Attack Threat
ZDNet says many multiplayer game servers - think Quake 3 and Battlefield
1942 - are at risk of being used to launch a denial-of-service attack
20 January 2003 - F-Prot(TM) Antivirus for FreeBSD v3.12d Released
Version 3.12d of F-Prot(TM) Antivirus, for Windows, Linux and BSD has been
released by FRISK Software and is now ready for download. Version 3.12d
includes a new scanning engine offering greater protection against unknown
future threats. The release of F-Prot(TM) Antivirus for DOS is expected to
follow soon. To update your registered version of F-Prot(TM) Antivirus to
version 3.12d visit Frisk's Update Center and select the platform-version
you want to update. If you want to try F-Prot(TM) Antivirus for Windows,
or other F-Prot(TM) Antivirus products, visit Frisk's Download Center for
trial versions.
20 January 2003 - F-Secure Reports: jdbgmgr.exe virus HOAX
This is an update to the previous reports of last year. F-Secure says a
worm has been found that actually uses the jdbgmgr.exe filename! For more
information, please go to: http://www.f-secure.com/v-descs/recory.shtml
If you have deleted jdbgmgr.exe, please see Microsoft knowledgebase
article Q322993 for instructions how to restore your system:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q322993
F-Secure asks that you please ignore this hoax or any similar warning
about jdbgmgr.exe and don't pass it on. Alias: Teddy Bear hoax
09 January 2003 - Group Ditches Bid To Crack Xbox Code
ZDNet says a distributed computing poject that sought to crack the
encryption key for Microsoft's Xbox console has been shelved 'for legal
reasons'
01 January 2003 - SSH Opens Computers To Attack
ZDNet says the protocol for securely accessing servers contains bugs that
could allow attackers to crash or take over SSH-equipped servers and
clients. The most widely used implementation, OpenSSH, is not vulnerable.
CERT's original advisory is available on the organisation's Web site.
01 January 2003 - Security Flaw Threatens Cisco Web Site
ZDNet says a vulnerability in Cross-Site Scripting could mean trouble for
both Cisco and its Web site users
01 January 2003 - Happy New Year From Virus Help Team Canada
_|>o<|_
(o . . o)
_______,--._(__Y__)_,--._______
| `--' `--' | May everything you stive for
| H A P P Y N E W Y E A R | this year, come to a happy
|_______________________________| conclusion.
)_.-|-._(
(___,'.___)
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Last Updated: December 01, 2005