Virus Masquerades as MSN Messenger Beta
Del.icio.us
Digg
Google
Spurl
Blink
Furl
Y! MyWeb
Share:
Sponsors:
By Robert McMillan / PCWORLD
MSN Messenger users who may think they're getting a sneak peak at the latest version of Microsoft's instant messaging client are in for a nasty surprise, a Finnish security firm is warning.
A variation of the Virkel instant messaging virus has been circulating amongst MSN users, posing as a leaked beta version of MSN Messenger 8, according to F-Secure.The virus uses the MSN Messenger client to send download links to all of an infected user's contacts, and connects the user's machine to a second "botnet" server, which could then could be used to install unauthorized software on the machine.
Infection Spreads
Victims are being infected by clicking and installing the BETA8WEBINSTALL.EXE file that is being distributed via these download links, F-Secure says.
"There is no MSN Messenger 8 yet. Not in public beta anyway." writes F-Secure Chief Research Officer Mikko Hypponen, writing on a company blog.
Microsoft recently released MSN Messenger 7.5.
Article submitted by: Webshark
Last Update: 12-28-2005
Category: Security
MSN Messenger users who may think they're getting a sneak peak at the latest version of Microsoft's instant messaging client are in for a nasty surprise, a Finnish security firm is warning.
A variation of the Virkel instant messaging virus has been circulating amongst MSN users, posing as a leaked beta version of MSN Messenger 8, according to F-Secure.The virus uses the MSN Messenger client to send download links to all of an infected user's contacts, and connects the user's machine to a second "botnet" server, which could then could be used to install unauthorized software on the machine.
Infection Spreads
Victims are being infected by clicking and installing the BETA8WEBINSTALL.EXE file that is being distributed via these download links, F-Secure says.
"There is no MSN Messenger 8 yet. Not in public beta anyway." writes F-Secure Chief Research Officer Mikko Hypponen, writing on a company blog.
Microsoft recently released MSN Messenger 7.5.
Article submitted by: Webshark
Last Update: 12-28-2005
Category: Security
Current rating: 5.34 by 76 users
| Would you recommend this article to a friend? |
| Not a Chance | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | Absolutely |
Related News Stories
(9,209 reads) 07-05-2008
· Fusion Security(14,898 reads) 06-02-2007
· NukeSentinel(tm)2.5.10 Critical Update(13,668 reads) 05-07-2007
· NukeSentinel(tm) 2.5.08 Maintainance Release(15,108 reads) 03-15-2007
· NukeSentinel(tm) 2.5.07 Reissued: Critical Update(13,608 reads) 03-02-2007
· NukeSentinel(tm) 2.5.06: Critical Update(14,398 reads) 01-23-2007
· NukeSentinel(tm) 2.5.05 released(14,430 reads) 12-24-2006
· NukeSentinel 2.5.04 released(14,150 reads) 11-03-2006
· NukeSentinel(tm) 2.5.03 Released(18,011 reads) 10-19-2006
· Php Nuke 8.0 Patched(14,380 reads) 10-01-2006
· ipBan Modification
Please register or sign-in to post comments.