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First JPEG Virus Posted To Usenet

Posted by timothy on from the one-neck-to-wring dept.

Shawn writes "This could possibly be the worst viruses yet! Earlier this month Microsoft announced a problem in their GDI driver that processes the way JPEG images are displayed. Someone has finally posted an exploit to Usenet. Easynews, a premium Usenet provider, found the virus Sunday afternoon. Up-to-date information about how we found it and what it does is located at www.easynews.com/virus.txt. When this picture is viewed it installs remote management software (winvnc and radmin) and will connect to irc."

48 of 694 comments (clear)

  1. Goatse by paughsw · · Score: 2, Funny

    One more reason not to look at that goatse picture!

    1. Re:Goatse by Molina+the+Bofh · · Score: 3, Funny

      It'll leave your backdoor wide open.

      --

      -
      Roses are #FF0000, Violets are #0000FF, find / -name '*base*' |xargs chown -R us && mv zig greatjustice
    2. Re:Goatse by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      Now THAT's what I call a security hole!

    3. Re:Goatse by devilspgd · · Score: 3, Funny

      If the editors can dupe, why not the posters?

      --
      Give a man a fish, he'll eat for a day, but teach a man to phish...
    4. Re:Goatse by NanoGator · · Score: 2, Funny

      ...If the editors can dupe, why not the posters?

      --
      "Derp de derp."
  2. In Soviet Russia... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Usenet posts JPEG viruses to you!

  3. That's pretty amazing. by autopr0n · · Score: 3, Funny

    Congrats, microsoft, for making just about every filetype unsafe.

    The worst part is that you don't even need to be using IE. Hopefully mozilla decodes the jpgs itself before rendering them on windows.

    --
    autopr0n is like, down and stuff.
    1. Re:That's pretty amazing. by joelanders · · Score: 2, Funny

      I always thought I could avoid viruses by looking at pr0n instead of....

    2. Re:That's pretty amazing. by madmancarman · · Score: 2, Funny
      I have to ask, what has MS done that is actually useful since Windows 2000?

      They killed Clippy.

      --
      First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win. -- Gandhi
    3. Re:That's pretty amazing. by Doyle · · Score: 5, Funny

      I have to ask, what has MS done that is actually useful since Windows 2000?

      You mean, apart from the sanitation, the medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, a fresh water system, and public health?

      Oh, wait - that was the Romans :P

    4. Re:That's pretty amazing. by HermanAB · · Score: 3, Funny

      No dammit, if MS fix their code it will kill the PC support industry and another million wannabe geeks will be out of work...

      --
      Oh well, what the hell...
    5. Re:That's pretty amazing. by ConceptJunkie · · Score: 3, Funny

      What has Open Source done in the last 4 years?

      Gone from Linux 2.0 to Linux 2.4 with all the huge improvements that go with it.

      Built a world-class browser from scratch. Ditto for e-mail.

      Developed half the apps I use under Windows.

      (And while I like the Windows development platform, ironically, I still use VC++ 6 because that's what all my clients use and want.)

      : What have other large companies done in the past 4 years?

      Sun: Got in a pissing match with MS over Java. Won, or lost... heck I don't even know (or care).

      Oracle: Continues to resent losing a competitive pissing match with MS despite having a superior product

      Corel: Tried to enter a pissing match with MS with 1/100th of the resources... failed miserably and sold everything

      Apple: Continued their pissing match with MS over usability (and is still losing the war despite winning all the battles)

      IBM: Set themselves up for a pissing match with MS by backing Linux.

      SCO: Pissed off everyone.

      Enron: Pissed on everyone.

      Novell: Pissed themselves.

      --
      You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike.
    6. Re:That's pretty amazing. by polecat_redux · · Score: 1, Funny

      Take all the gigabyte-gobbling shit they've written for the last 10 years and turn it into useful code with no new functionality.

      Yeah, talk about bloatware... I used to use Hotmail for my email service and it clocked in at about 2 MB of storage. Now, gmail comes along, and they give me 1 GIG! I mean, where does it end? It's just email, why do I need a full gig of space for just email? C'mon gmail, add new functionality to my email instead of just loading me down with crap that takes extra space.

    7. Re:That's pretty amazing. by spectrokid · · Score: 2, Funny

      Hey, they even managed to make vCard unsafe at one point, and that is a fucking TEXT file!!!

      --

      10 ?"Hello World" life was simple then

    8. Re:That's pretty amazing. by mlush · · Score: 2, Funny
      It takes just as long to load apps now as it did 10 years ago, even though machines are 10 times faster with 100 times more memory

      Thats Gates Law: Every 18 months the speed of software halfs.

    9. Re:That's pretty amazing. by MikeDX · · Score: 2, Funny

      Winxp is chugging down at least a gig and a half, and really doesn't offer me much more than nt4 did.

      What?? Are you trying to tell us that the nice rounded safe buttons, pretty green wallpaper and network killing security issues arent worth the $150 price tag?? Surely you jest!
      To me, when I think Microsoft, I think "Small Software", ah, so much for so little, what a happy family we are!

  4. Re:Anyone have a working copy? by tuxedobob · · Score: 3, Funny

    Don't want sample code. Want JPEG.

  5. Well... by Pantero+Blanco · · Score: 4, Funny

    It was only a matter of time. Now we wait for a dozen variants to pop up.

    "This could possibly be the worst viruses yet!"

    Hm...maybe when he started typing there was only one and it spread during the sentence?

  6. Forget the queen by EodLabs · · Score: 1, Funny

    GOD SAVE THE PR0N :)

  7. Nothing's safe anymore by phantomAI · · Score: 4, Funny

    I guess those nude pictures of Anna Kournikova could indeed be a virus.

    1. Re:Nothing's safe anymore by bergeron76 · · Score: 4, Funny

      So does this qualify it as a Sexually Transmitted Disease (STD)?!?

      Drat!!!

      --
      Don't think that a small group of dedicated individuals can't change the world. It's the only thing that ever has.
  8. Screenshots... by tajmorton · · Score: 5, Funny

    No Screenshots, please!

    --
    Tell the truth and you won't have so much to remember.
  9. Re:Hello by borl · · Score: 2, Funny

    No, just a backdoor.

  10. alt.binaries.erotica.beanie-babies by drachenfyre · · Score: 5, Funny

    Ok, no offense, but beanie-babies and erotica? There are some newsgroups that just shouldn't exist.

    1. Re:alt.binaries.erotica.beanie-babies by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      I take offence at your narrow-mindedness.

    2. Re:alt.binaries.erotica.beanie-babies by marko123 · · Score: 4, Funny

      Were you around during the height of the popularity of alt.tasteless.hamster.duct_tape or alt.swedish.chef.bork.bork.bork?

      Those were the days. Anyone go to Level 17 on gopher?

      --
      http://pcblues.com - Digits and Wood
  11. Eek! by StevenHenderson · · Score: 4, Funny
    This could possibly be the worst viruses yet!

    These could be the worst grammar too!!!

  12. Re:Just begging to be sued by d_jedi · · Score: 4, Funny

    I got my lawyer on the phone, but he couldn't look up any legal info.. seems he was viewing some p[r]on, and all of the sudden, his computer stopped working..

    Damn Jay Peg with his viruses..

    --
    I am the maverick of Slashdot
  13. Even more evil ... by gregoryl · · Score: 4, Funny

    put the image on doubleclick.net

  14. Re:Anyone have a working copy? by tuxedobob · · Score: 3, Funny

    Thanks! Downloaded and opened!

  15. Re:Just begging to be sued by thogard · · Score: 2, Funny

    So is Billy G an ass for giving the script kiddies something easy to use too?

  16. Re:Anyone have a working copy? by rainman_bc · · Score: 4, Funny

    Mine too... Totall impressive. What's even more impressive is the ability to use standard html tags on slashdot :)

    --
    09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0
  17. Re:Can be prevented... by antifoidulus · · Score: 2, Funny

    SUSE is also free, and will solve the problem....:P
    Sorry, couldn't resist that one.

    --
    Monstar L
  18. God dammit! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Why doesn't slashdot allow you to post images! :)

    1. Re:God dammit! by Dorothy+86 · · Score: 3, Funny
      because those of us who have remained goatse free would like to keep it that way :-P

      (yes, I know you're being silly, but what the hell :))

      --
      Game Overdrive - Gaming News
  19. Re:Stop downloading porn? by base3 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Stop being a tease and saying we can't have pr0n and then using language like "patches the hole." Thank you.

    --
    One CPU cycle wasted on digital restrictions management is ONE TOO MANY.
  20. Sex! by InfiniteWisdom · · Score: 4, Funny

    What, now you can't even WATCH sex without protection?

  21. Re:Anyone have a working copy? by Three+Headed+Man · · Score: 5, Funny

    I extracted the bad code, but I'm having trouble getting it to run in WINE.

    Just one more reason Linux isn't ready for the desktop.

    --
    I'm probably at the karma cap. Mod up a funny troll instead, it lightens the mood :)
  22. Is it named yet? by jaysones · · Score: 2, Funny

    If there's no name yet, how about the Medusa virus?

  23. Re:Anyone have a working copy? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny
    -a mac administrator and reformed cracker

    Uh huh, sure.

    -woman and reformed man

  24. Re:Anyone have a working copy? by HermanAB · · Score: 4, Funny
    Yah, Linux is boring - it just works...

    Windows Users have all the fun!

    --
    Oh well, what the hell...
  25. HTML-trap by HermanAB · · Score: 2, Funny
    Well, maybe it is time to change my HTML-trap poisoned files list to *.*

    That'll fix it...

    --
    Oh well, what the hell...
  26. Re:Anyone have a working copy? by tonyr60 · · Score: 2, Funny

    "I don't think anyone with local access to my machine gives a shit, though; it's in my bedroom. I suppose that if a cracker is enterprising enough to break into my house and root my machine locally, well...fair play to them :)"

    Hey, come on. Root my wife, partner or whatever. No problem there. But definitely not my machine, particularly in my bedroom....

  27. What about Clippy? by AmazingRuss · · Score: 2, Funny

    We didn't have Clippy the paperclip in 1994...those were dark times indeed. Praise be to Microsoft, for delivering anthropomorphized office supplies unto the wretched masses!

  28. I've got a workaround! by TheNarrator · · Score: 2, Funny

    The workaround is to not use any programs which require graphics. Please switch to using the command prompt for all applications until a patch has been made. Edlin is the recommended editor for security minded users. Now Microsoft just needs to post documentation on how to edit microsoft word format docs via binary editing in edlin and we'll be back to normal!

  29. Re:Anyone have a working copy? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Yeah but Linux users make up 90% of the porn-downloading population; therefore, there is an elevated risk.

  30. Re:Can be prevented... by stemcell · · Score: 2, Funny

    Say your using app X that uses GDI+ to render its

    Oh no, not X too.

    Stem

  31. Re:Anyone have a working copy? by The_ForeignEye · · Score: 2, Funny

    He was not joking. ...and don't call him surely.