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Bugbear Windows Virus Making the Rounds

Posted by michael on from the where-she'll-stop-nobody-knows dept.

lysurgon writes "CNN.com is reporting that the "BugBear" virus (Windows/Outlook only) is spreading quickly. Unlike ILovYou-type viri, instead of deleting files or just propagating itself, this animal disables firewall software and opens a port to receive remote commands. The article doesn't draw this conclusion, but this effectively sets up slave machines for DDoS uses. Also worth noting is the puzzlement of anti-virus guys as to why they haven't been able to make the virus spread in the lab. "One of the theories is that this requires an Internet connection in order to spread." Gee, you don't say?"

3 of 449 comments (clear)

  1. Funny by Tim+Ward · · Score: 1, Flamebait

    This is an exploit of a hole that was fixed last year, yet it makes the /. front page??

    However the last two major outbreaks which exploited holes patched yonks ago didn't make the /. front page. Would that perhaps be because this one is a Windows exploit and the last two were Linux/Apache exploits, by any chance, just possibly?

    1. Re:Funny by Seclusion · · Score: 2, Flamebait

      I'll tell you why these stories should be on /. every time a new outbreak happens. So we the informed tech community remind the majority who run Windows to practice safe internet/pc habits. Meanwhile you may score some brownie points with friends/family/coworkers by guiding them toward the fixes they need.

  2. Re:Because the patch has been out for ALMOST 2 YEA by cscx · · Score: 1, Flamebait

    Why don't you go suck on an inherently huge cock? No wonder you're on my foes list, god damn you're an asshole. Someone tries to inject the first bit of rational thought that I've seen into this totally redundant useless thread, and you try and bring it down. Why don't you pull your unixish head out of your ass and get a clue?