Whoopsie!

HomeLAN

HomeLAN

New Member
May want to be careful where you surf for awhile.

The new year is off to a rocky start at Microsoft, where security experts are scrambling to confront a potentially massive virus threat to Windows PCs.

According to a report Tuesday in the Financial Times, the latest vulnerability involves a flaw which allows hackers to infect computers using programs inserted into image files. The threat was discovered last week. But it mushroomed over the weekend, when a group of hackers published the source code they used to exploit the flaw.

What makes this threat particularly vicious, according to the Times, is that unwitting victims can infect their computers simply by viewing a web page, e-mail, or instant message that includes a contaminated image. That differs from most virus attacks, which require a user to actually download an infected file.
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http://money.cnn.com/2006/01/03/technology/windows_virusthreat/index.htm?cnn=yes
 
Gato_Solo

Gato_Solo

Out-freaking-standing OTC member
highwayman said:
The flaw affects most if not all Microsoft OS's, you all be carefull...
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Won't affect my home system in the slightest. Its not on the 'net...;)
 
Mirlyn

Mirlyn

Well-Known Member
FWIW:
The hole uses images to execute malicious code, meaning code can be potentially executed just by viewing an image. ICS warned even images stored on a user's PC may cause the exploit to be triggered.

Despite being judged serious by Microsoft, the company has decided that customers can wait for January's scheduled batch of software updates to receive the WMF fix.

In a statement timed to coincide with Tuesday's post-Christmas and New Year return to work, Microsoft said: "Although the issue is serious and malicious attacks are being attempted, Microsoft's intelligence sources indicate that the scope of the attacks are not widespread."
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http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/01/03/windows_meta_file_hack/
 
A.B.Normal

A.B.Normal

New Member
I just finished(3a.m. this morning)a reinstall of Win98SE on my parents comp and I'm quite sure it did apply a fix for the .wmf isssue or at least checked to see if the install was susceptible to it when I ran Windows Update.
 
Mirlyn

Mirlyn

Well-Known Member
A.B.Normal said:
I just finished(3a.m. this morning)a reinstall of Win98SE on my parents comp and I'm quite sure it did apply a fix for the .wmf isssue or at least checked to see if the install was susceptible to it when I ran Windows Update.
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Can't remember where 98SE is in the lifecycle, but, from the same article:
PCs running old operating systems like Windows 98 will be left out in the New Year cold entirely, as they now exceed Microsoft's support cycle.
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We're pretty much on subscription plans with MS now, whether we like it or not. Update, or die.
 
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