Here you have' e-mail worm hits corporate world!!

A new virus based in e-mails with the subject line "Here You have" began running rampant Thursday, hitting corporate America hard.

So far, the virus has already been sighted at ABC/Disney, Google, Coca Cola and NASA, several individuals with knowledge of the situation told. Comcast was forced to shut down its e-mail servers entirely after being hit, a spokesperson said on Twitter.

E-mails that carry the virus contain a link that encourages readers to click on a PDF document file. But rather than a PDF, the file  contains a Windows script that transmits a virus and spams the entire contact list of the person who opened the file.

The worm is similar to the ILoveYou and Anna Kournikova worms, which spread in 2000 and 2001, and is a type of malware that has not been a major problem since around 2002, according to David Cowings, a senior manager with Symantec Security Response. "It looks like we've had a resurgence of mass-mailing worms," he said.

This latest worm seems to do nothing more than send itself out, using the victim's contact list. Cowings said "It appears to be mailing itself to all of the mailing lists that are in someone's contacts. It may also go to individuals," he said. The worm appeared to be affecting Outlook e-mail users, but it's not clear if it is also affecting users of other mail programs.

The body of the e-mail typically says something like, "Hello... this is the document I told you about, you can find it here." Because the worm is spreading via contact lists, the e-mail often comes from someone the victim knows.

A note posted on the McAfee site Thursday afternoon said: "It looks like multiple variants may be spreading and may take some time to work through them all to paint a clearer picture."

Google threatens to leave China

Google has threatened to close its operations and offices in China after hacking of email accounts of many human rights activists.

In a statement on its blog on Tuesday, the world's second biggest corporate said it has detected in December "a highly sophisticated and targeted attack on our corporate infrastructure originating from China that resulted in the theft of intellectual property from Google.''

The main goal of the attackers was access the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists, the statement said. But they didn't succeed as "only two Gmail accounts appear to have been accessed, and that activity was limited to account information (such as the date the account was created) and subject line, rather than the content of emails themselves,'' Google said.

But independent of this attack, Google said it has "discovered that the accounts of dozens of US, China and Europe based Gmail users who are advocates of human rights in China appear to have been routinely accessed by third parties.

"These accounts have not been accessed through any security breach at Google, but most likely via phishing scams or malware placed on the users' computers.''

The Mountain View-based company said it has made "infrastructure and architectural improvements that enhance security for Google'' and urged users to deploy anti-virus and anti-spy ware programmes. These attacks, Google said, have forced it to "review the feasibility of our business operations in China.''

The company, which had agreed to censor of Google.cn at its launch in 2006, said it was "no longer willing to continue censoring our results on Google.cn.''

Google said it will soon hold discussions the Chinese soon whether it can operate an unfiltered search engine. "We recognize that this may well mean having to shut down Google.cn, and potentially our offices in China,'' the blog warned.

Why do people write viruses???

Every time when reports of a big new virus or other malware attack hits media, my mind will be out for an answer for the question: Why do people write viruses?

I answer as succinctly as I can, but the question is a deep and complex one. Why do people burglarize homes? Why do people tag buildings with graffiti? Why do they post anonymous hatred on online message boards? Why do they play video games? These questions may sound like they have nothing to do with one another, but you might be surprised how their answers are all related to the topic at hand.

TechRepublic offered an interesting analysis of this issue a month ago but it slipped by me. Fortunately I stumbled upon it this weekend and hope you'll give it a read in order to help shed a little light on a surprisingly complex issue.

So why do people write viruses (and I'll use that term loosely throughout this post as a descriptive for any kind of malware)?

TechRepublic plays it down a bit, but my #1 answer to the question is always the obvious one: For the money. In the old days, a virus designed to erase your hard drive or fill your computer screen with garbage was just a prank (more on that later) but those viruses are quite rare these days. Nowadays, the vast majority of viruses have far more practical ends: They make your PC send spam, they harvest financial information, turn computers into zombies, and extort money out of you directly if you want it deleted. All of these have direct and quantifiable financial goals: Spam is paid for by the message (or the millions of messages) sent. Personal data can be sold on the black market for use in identity theft. It's business, pure and simple -- bad business, to be sure, but all about the cash at the end of the day.

Several of the items on the TechRepublic list get at a secondary reason for virus-writing: They do it because they can. It's the same reason people jump out of planes or drive at insane speeds: It's a thrill, and for a certain subset of programmers, there's a thrill, a laugh, or a power-trip to be had from causing as much damage as possible -- and getting away with it. While most virus writers don't want attention (which can bring serious prison time in the end), a few do, and some underground hackers get off on the notoriety.

Sabotage -- whatever the motivation -- is another common theme in malware creation. Any political issue -- whether it's a presidential election or a Microsoft vs. open source legal spat -- tends to be ground zero for hacker attacks. Denial of service attacks are commonly launched against websites owned by those with opinions unpopular in the hacker community. And that's where your machine comes in: Hackers compromise it with malware to turn it into a DoS zombie.

So, getting the picture? Viruses and other malware are going to be with us forever because they're a digital version of human nature.

Protecting your computer makes good sense!!!

It can delete important data or programs from your hard disk. It can constantly display annoying pop-up ads. It can slow your computer to a crawl or stop it from functioning. It can even help computer thieves steal your sensitive information and your identity.

It's malware — malicious software. And unless you take steps to prevent it from attacking your computer, you can be a victim of viruses, spyware, and adware. What's even more frustrating is that these programs can be so well-hidden on your computer that you can't find and remove them without the help of an anti-malware program. And in extreme cases, you may have to completely clean your hard disk and reinstall your operating system to rid yourself of these pests.

• Viruses can infect your computer and spread to your friends

A virus is a program that inserts itself into other programs, documents, or email attachments. If you open a document or click a link or attachment in an email, you may download a virus. Once a computer is infected, a virus can do intentional damage, from slowing down a computer by overloading its memory, to destroying important data or programs. The virus may attempt to infect other computers by emailing or instant messaging itself to everyone in your address book.

• Spyware can lurk in other software

Spyware is software that gathers information about you without your knowledge or consent. It "records" what you do with your computer (such as the web sites you visit) by tracking everything you type on your keyboard. Some spyware can even gather email addresses, passwords, and credit card information and transmit it to the company or persons that produced the spyware. The data may then be sold to other companies that use it to display their ads to you, or used by criminals to steal your identity. Spyware is often hidden in other software that is downloaded from the Internet.

• Adware is more than annoying

Adware is software that displays advertising, such as pop-up ads, as you surf the Web. Some adware double as spyware and also collect your personal information without your consent. Like spyware, adware can be installed when you download a program from the Internet or install software from disks. Adware may not disclose its behavior before you install it or may not clearly identify itself as the source of ads.

How to Protect Your PC

Use anti-virus software and keep it up-to-date

If you haven't installed anti-virus software on your computer, do it now. Anti-virus software can detect many — but not all — forms of malicious software before they have a chance to affect your computer. When you purchase anti-virus software, look for one that includes anti-spyware. Most anti-virus software can automatically download updates for you. Check to make sure your software is downloading updates correctly.

Keep all your software up-to-date

You can prevent many problems by regularly checking for and installing updates for your programs, including your operating system, browser, messaging software, and other software. Many programs include a feature that automatically checks for updates. Be wary of clicking links in emails claiming to have updates for your software; it is safer to type the address of the web site into your browser’s Address bar to visit the site directly.

Check your security settings

Most operating systems (such as Windows XP) have a built-in firewall and other safeguards to prevent unauthorized access to your computer. Check your operating system to make sure it's set up so that your computer is protected. Install any security updates or patches for your operating system promptly.

Be careful opening email attachments

Consider turning off the feature in your email programs that automatically opens attachments. If you receive an attachment you aren't expecting, do not open it. Before you open any email attachment — even if it's from someone you trust — scan it using anti-virus software. Most of the online mail service providers automatically scans all email attachments for viruses.


Don't install unfamiliar programs

Think carefully before installing or running new software, such as freeware or shareware programs available online. Only download software from a source you trust. Do not install software if you cannot verify that it's from a trusted source. Make sure you know what the software will do and how it will affect your computer. Malicious software (like viruses and spyware) often masquerade as legitimate and even useful programs. For example, you might be tempted to download a program that claims to keep your computer clock synchronized with an official clock. But if that program contains adware or spyware, it could also display advertising pop-ups whenever you're online or keep track of where you go on the Internet.

Be wary of pop-up and email warnings

Don't believe every warning you read — especially pop-up warnings that you see while you're surfing the Web. Unscrupulous companies use pop-up ads to display false warnings about your computer. Ignore them.

Do NOT click any button in the pop-up (such as a "Close" or "No" button) or the Close box that may appear in the upper-right corner of the pop-up. Closing a pop-up in that way might actually install a virus or other malicious software on your computer. To close a pop-up ad, press Ctrl-W (if you're using a Windows computer) or Command-W (on a Mac computer). You may receive an email warning that claims to be from a computer "expert" warning you of a virus. These are usually hoaxes. Do not follow the steps described in any email unless you're sure the threat is real.

Things to know about phishing…

Phishing is like fishing personal details…

Phishing is a new way of getting personal information through fake pages which is most similar to the original page. The victim will enter his/her personal information on the fake page and will end up in big loss like identity theft money loss etc.

How to identify Phishing pages?

There are several ways to identify the fake pages.

1. First and for most is to upgrade your browser to the latest one which the service provider offers. Internet Explorer version 7 has the in built capacity to identify the fake page. If you happened to logging to a fake page, the browser will give you a warning message stating that it may be a phishing attempt.

2. Look into the address bar properly.If you check your address bar you will come to know whether it is a fake page or an original page. Fake page will not have the correct site address that you tried to log in. The fake pages are normally hosted from a free site hosting pages which will be mentioned in the address bar. But little more advanced hackers will host a website which has the address similar to the targeted site. So it is always better to type in the address of the site to which you have to take a look.

3. Don’t follow the links which is in an Email.You should never follow a link in an Email send to you. Always remember that hackers use email as a medium to carry their fake pages to their victims. You may find some wonderful offer from your bank or from your Email provider. Never click the link that contained in that email. Because we may not know, if it is a fake page. If you are interested in the add type the address of the site in the address bar and navigate through your site to see if an offer is made by them. If yes apply for that with confident.

4. Don’t provide personal information.Never provide your personal information in any of the social networking sites. Hackers normally target those sites to collect the contact of their victims.

So beware of phishers and be safe always…