Urgent!: W32.Sobig.F@mm Virus

Published on August 19, 2003 By grayhaze In WinCustomize News

Many users of this site are currently reporting an outbreak of a new variation of the Sobig virus which is filling e-mail mailboxes everywhere. This virus spreads by sending a copy of itself to all e-mail addresses that it finds on an infected machine, disguising itself as an attachment from another address it finds.

There are reports of some individuals receiving over 500 of these virus e-mails in less than a day, and the problem continues to grow extremely quickly.

Please can all users of this site ensure that they are running an up-to-date virus checker on their machines, with current virus definition updates, to prevent further spread and disruption. There is also a stand-alone tool for removal of the virus if you do not have virus checking software on your machine (which everyone here should!)

For further information, check out the following links.

Symantec: http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/w32.sobig.f@mm.html

McAfee: http://us.mcafee.com/virusInfo/default.asp?id=description&virus_k=100561

McAfee AVERT Stinger (Stand-alone removal tool): http://vil.nai.com/vil/stinger/

BBC News: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3164861.stm

Sophos: http://www.sophos.com/virusinfo/articles/sobigf.html

Comments (Page 1)

Koasati

on Aug 19, 2003

I agree grayhaze........ there's no excuse for connecting to the internet without UP-TO-DATE anti-virus protection. If you don't mind getting hit with these bugs, and worms, and other nasties, then fine.... don't use any firewalls, and anti-virus apps. But, if you're not going to protect your machine, then please do the rest of us a favor............ Empty your Address Book,.. delete every entry, so when you get hit, you won't spread it.

rikkie

on Aug 19, 2003

It's absolutely crucial these days to have your automatic update option in the virusscanner turned ON as well .Norton today blocked some 15 ( yes , 15 !! ) e-mails with hidden attachments containing this new worm .

Grfx Guru

on Aug 19, 2003

15 is that all?

I'm up to 200 emails and counting, that god for upto date virus software........and there I was thinking I had become real popular and everyone wanted to talk to me lol

The most annoying part is that in all the emails being sent to peoples mail boxes, it is so easy to overlook one that you actually wanted to get.

joetheblow

on Aug 19, 2003

oh crud, not another one

mormegil

on Aug 20, 2003

I have been blocking all the infected files since this morning, when my mailbox overloaded at 600. However I have recived 300 more Mail failuer notices in just the last few hours. Now I am having to block those. Which sucks becuse I will not know if something I send failes for a normal reason. This worm sucks. I guess this is what I get for posting my email adress on all my skins. and in my comments. But I refuse to change addresses. yet.......

craeonics

on Aug 20, 2003

Bah, I never use a virus scanner and haven't had a virus/worm in aeons. First and prime way to avert "infection" is to not blindly click on anything you find in your mailbox.

themorphium

on Aug 20, 2003

No one loves me, only 3 emails today with virii.

grayhaze

on Aug 20, 2003

The point is craeonics, you wouldn't know if you had been infected with this virus unless you had anti-virus software to alert you to the problem. The 'it'll never happen to me' attitude is the exact reason why we have such a problem, and it's people like yourself who are potentially putting others at risk.

Larry Kuperman

on Aug 20, 2003

Craeonics, MSBLAST spread through sweeps of unprotected ports, not through an attachment.

Not having an anti-virus program is akin to risking a fire in your home. It not only effects you, it effects your neighbors as well. And, in the case of the Internet, we are all your neighbors.

Hell Dragon

on Aug 20, 2003

I hear ya mormegil... this thing sucks.

Anyone that has a public email address on the net or includes their email in their skins gets blasted even more.

I'm currently receiving 1 virus email or failure notice every 25 seconds at the moment, and overnight it overloaded my 30MB POP3 account

Sven Lowry

on Aug 20, 2003

I'm sorry craeonics but thats the most stupid thing I've heard in a long time.
Do you get in a car and drive without a seatbelt, just because you haven't had your head smashed thru the windshield yet??
get to www.grisoft.com and download AVG - it's completely free.

craeonics

on Aug 20, 2003

=sigh=
=sigh=
=sigh=

Trust me, I know when I am hit by a virus. I am the guy who has his eye on running processes all the time.

=sigh=

REMenard

on Aug 20, 2003

Oh no Mr. Bill you did to us again, the all in one holely grail connecting mail, the OS, and Office.
Anti-virus software is one thing you can do to protect your self. The other which I do is I don't run with MS outlook.
I am using a different email client that has it's own browser engine so it cuts out the script issues.
Good Luck, I been there before, that's why I won't go back.

Aqua.

on Aug 20, 2003

Grrrr, I don't have the virus, but my email address is one of the ones being faked in the "From:" line. I'm getting hundreds of bounce backs

Fortunately, I haven't gotten a single email with the virus in it being sent to me. Doesn't matter since I pre-screen all of my email through the web interface before downloading with OE

Grfx Guru

on Aug 20, 2003

craeonics........

'I know when I am hit by a virus', surely the whole point is to avoid being hit in the first place? Bit like saying, I know the ship has sunk when my feet get wet

No offense intended, my mail box is overflowing with hits today and return notes from places where my email address has been faked as well but it does seem to be decreasing in quantity, just thought I'd see the lighter side of it for once.

Regards to all,

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