Shireroth

There is a really nasty AIM virus going around. When it infects someone, it gets on their AIM and tells everyone on their buddy list to download a fun game at a certain link. Needless to say, this game is the virus, and you do NOT want to download it. I have gotten this twice today, so it's obviously going around. DO NOT DOWNLOAD ANY GAMES ON ANYONE'S AIM RECOMMENDATION!!!!

And so social engineering continues to be the ultimate infection vector... I spend my days enjoying the minty taste that surrounds Erik. Edited by: Ari Rahikkala at: 2/13/04 1:47 am

Those of you who are computer-savvy will probably notice that the "game" asks you if you want to install software from whatever the site is -- click NO.Obviously, if you ever get one of those windows (y'know, the one with the checkbox that says "Always trust content from ___"), click NO unless you know whose software that is -- and truly, the only things you really should be installing like that are Flash & Shockwave, both of which are from Macromedia, and maybe something like IE updates from Microsoft. But really, that's it. Otherwise, it should have a separate installer for download -- like a .exe, .msi, or .zip file. If you do manage to contract it, however, there are some ways to get rid of it. First off, it will install a program that lets you "send fun links to your friends" -- ignore that. There is also a possibility that it installs a trojan. Quite a few anti-spyware programs and antivirus programs will be able to catch them. Try Lavasoft Ad-Aware, Spybot Search&Destroy, avast! antivirus, Norton antivirus, and some others. Software firewalls are also likely to catch the program uploading data, if it does.So far, I've personally heard of something like 4 people infected with it, and none of them have had anything bad happen -- yet. Then again, if it's a keylogger or similar program, as I expect it is, then they wouldn't know.