New mass mailer worm

Aragorn · 10-09-2010, 10:21

Heads up - there is a new mass mailer worm spreading - Visal.b

Details on the MS site here.

We had several emails last night but IT seems to have contained it.

The example I saw was an email saying -

Code:

Subject: Here you have 
             Body: 
Hello:
                          This is The Document I told you about,you can find it Here.
http://www.sharedocuments.com/library/PDF_Document21.025542010.pdf
                          Please check it and reply as soon as possible.
                          Cheers,

Pog66 · 10-09-2010, 11:46

Also hit at work overnight - resulting Spam storm nearly crippled teh email system :-(

Sasha222 · 10-09-2010, 11:48

If you have a virus protecter will it block it?

Aragorn · 10-09-2010, 11:59

Not sure - the link sends you to a .scr virus file, so if your AV knows the signature of the virus then it probably would block it.
Best response is delete the email and not to click on the link

Uncle Peter · 10-09-2010, 12:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by defirish

If you have a virus protecter will it block it?

As an individual you will be ok providing your virus definitions are up to date.

Some companies (as noted above) will potentially suffer from large amounts of traffic on their smtp gateways and email servers unless protection is hosted away from the corporate network, ie: Messagelabs or Postini.

Sasha222 · 10-09-2010, 12:03

I never open emails anyway or attachments that I'm not sure of. I just send them to the junk file.

---------- Post added at 12:03 ---------- Previous post was at 12:02 ----------

Quote:

Originally Posted by Uncle Peter

As an individual you will be ok providing your virus definitions are up to date.

Some companies (as noted above) will potentially suffer from large amounts of traffic on their smtp gateways and email servers unless protection is hosted away from the corporate network, ie: Messagelabs or Postini.

What is Messagelabs and Postini or do I need to worry about them on my home laptop?

Aragorn · 10-09-2010, 12:09

More coverage here on El Reg.

Uncle Peter · 10-09-2010, 12:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by defirish

I never open emails anyway or attachments that I'm not sure of. I just send them to the junk file.

---------- Post added at 12:03 ---------- Previous post was at 12:02 ----------

What is Messagelabs and Postini or do I need to worry about them on my home laptop?

They are companies who provide,amongst other things, virus and spam protection to enterprise/business customers. Spam and viruses are stopped at their borders rather than the businesses they are protecting.

Sasha222 · 10-09-2010, 12:17

Thanks for the explaination. I'm not a tec person so want to make sure that I'm safe and know what to do if anything did happen. Thanks all

---------- Post added at 12:17 ---------- Previous post was at 12:16 ----------

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aragorn

More coverage here on El Reg.

Thanks for the link Aragorn

**Maggy J** · 10-09-2010, 12:28

Or you can get your mail through your browser through Gmail or yahoomail or VM and the spam filters usually weed out potential dangerous mail.

Sasha222 · 10-09-2010, 12:32

Im on hotmail does that make a difference

grandmaster · 10-09-2010, 12:39

The file (virus) may look like a pdf.
just take care when opening attachments.

Sasha222 · 10-09-2010, 12:41

I never open them and my virus checker always gives a warning anyway about them.

Lord Nikon · 10-09-2010, 16:42

My domain hosted email runs through spamassasin anyway. But yeah, they've gone old school with this and it looks to be a particularly annoying one.

yesman · 10-09-2010, 23:45

Some info from the Beeb here

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-11258795