Becoming paranoid » Virus http://becomingparanoid.com Tips about computer security, privacy and staying safe online Wed, 03 Oct 2007 13:03:29 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5 en hourly 1 F-Secure Online Scanner http://becomingparanoid.com/2006/05/17/f-secure-online-scanner/ http://becomingparanoid.com/2006/05/17/f-secure-online-scanner/#comments Wed, 17 May 2006 16:11:36 +0000 madelman http://becomingparanoid.com/2006/05/17/f-secure-online-scanner/ F-SecureIf we have to check one computer for viruses and we don’t have any antivirus at hand, F-Secure Online Scanner may be a good option, as it allows you to scan your files without installing any software in your computer.

You only have to browse to its page and download an ActiveX control which will scan the computer searching for viruses. You will need to use with Internet Explorer, as this is the only supported browser.

Another service I like to use is VirusTotal, which offers free online analysis of files with 23 different virus scanners, although in this case you can only scan individual files one at a time, but it is very useful in case you are suspicious of a file and want to test it throughfully. As no antivirus is 100% reliable, checking the file with so many different scanners may guarantee better results.

Anyway, it’s always a good solution to have a resident scanner which avoids viruses even being written to your disk, even less getting executed.

]]> http://becomingparanoid.com/2006/05/17/f-secure-online-scanner/feed/ 1 Scan for viruses with Knoppix http://becomingparanoid.com/2006/04/18/scan-for-viruses-with-knoppix/ http://becomingparanoid.com/2006/04/18/scan-for-viruses-with-knoppix/#comments Tue, 18 Apr 2006 00:48:23 +0000 madelman http://becomingparanoid.com/2006/04/18/scan-for-viruses-with-knoppix/ One of my favourite tricks when checking some Windows computer which is screwed up (and, usually, they are really screwed up, even not booting) is scan for viruses using Knoppix, a Linux distribution which can boot from a CD.

Once booted, it recognises your Windows partitions and allows downloading F-Prot, a free virus scanner, which checks your hard drive for virus. If you find any, you need to delete the files containing them.

It is also a good idea to download updates for Windows at this time, as it is safer to browse the web from the Knoppix CD.

You can download the Knoppix CD from the official site. It’s a good idea to have it at hand, just in case you need it urgently.

From | O’Reilly

]]> http://becomingparanoid.com/2006/04/18/scan-for-viruses-with-knoppix/feed/ 0 Worm that spreads via Hotmail http://becomingparanoid.com/2006/03/09/worm-that-spreads-via-hotmail/ http://becomingparanoid.com/2006/03/09/worm-that-spreads-via-hotmail/#comments Thu, 09 Mar 2006 10:32:20 +0000 madelman http://becomingparanoid.com/2006/03/09/worm-that-spreads-via-hotmail/ W32.Hotmatom is a new worm that uses Hotmail to spread itself. When downloaded it installs in your computer, running every time Windows starts. Then it monitors your browser (only Internet Explorer) and when you send a new email to someone the worm adds a signature to the email, pointing to a web page with a copy of it which will be downloaded if the user accesses it.

The signature is chosen between one of these:

  • Hola, feliz dia de san valentin te hice una postal, descargala de aqui [http://]romanticsletters.miarroba.com
  • Hi, Happy San Valentin Day Download you Postcards from [http://]romanticsletters.miarroba.com
  • i want show you something,[http://]romanticsletters.miarroba.com
  • oye hasme un favor sip porfa, esque hice una postal para alguien pero quiero ver si se ve, ayudame, de aqui la descargas, yo la puedo ver pero puess quiero ver si se ve en otro lado, [http://]www.romanticsletters.miarroba.com ,me dices ok?

The worm also deletes files from disks A and C, overwriting them with its code. Looks like all the webpages linked don’t work anymore, but there could be other variants with different links.

As always, the recommendation is not to open any link received in an email and have a good and updated antivirus.

From | BlogAntivirus.

]]> http://becomingparanoid.com/2006/03/09/worm-that-spreads-via-hotmail/feed/ 0 Trojan for mobiles with Java http://becomingparanoid.com/2006/02/28/trojan-for-mobiles-with-java/ http://becomingparanoid.com/2006/02/28/trojan-for-mobiles-with-java/#comments Tue, 28 Feb 2006 17:48:31 +0000 madelman http://becomingparanoid.com/2006/02/28/trojan-for-mobiles-with-java/ Although the concept of Java was “compile-once-run-anywhere”, in the mobile market this has not been really true during a long time. Differences in the implementation of the Java Virtual Machine and in the capacities of the different telephones made the process of writing generic software (especially games) a difficult one.

This was one of the main reasons why virus writers didn’t target this kind of platforms, as the distribution of it would be difficult. But when money is in the game we could expect sooner or later someone would do it.

In this case, the threat is coming from Russia, where a trojan has been found which, disguised in an application which allows to visit WAP sites for free, sends SMS to premium rate numbers, getting money from the user.

It has been named Trojan-SMS.J2ME.RedBrowser.a and, luckily, it can not replicate by itself, you have to download and install it yourself to activate it. Even more, when sending an SMS it will show a warning telling the user what’s happening and not all mobile phones can send SMS from a Java application

The recommendation, as always, is not to download software from suspicious sites or accept files from unknown people.

From | Kaspersky Lab weblog.

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