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Sober.P Worm Accounts for 5% of all Email Traffic

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the thats-a-lotta-bits dept.

destuxor writes "The grave insecurity of the day is the Sober.P worm which is currently pushing nearly 5% of all email traffic at the moment. Unlike previous worms, Sober can disable the Windows Firewall and Symantec Antivirus. Interestingly, patched machines are not vulnerable to the exploits used by this worm. What are we going to have to do to convince "ordinary users" to visit WindowsUpdate once in a while?" update percentage corrected.

2 of 451 comments (clear)

  1. Huh? by rnelsonee · · Score: 0, Redundant
    Interestingly, patched machines are not vulnerable to the exploits used by this worm

    Not that interesting - that's exactly what's expected. I guess the submitter is trying to say that's an indication of how many machines are unpatched?

  2. The solution? Fines by tannhaus · · Score: 1, Redundant

    They should start fining people whose computers are used in an attack that could have been prevented if they had patched their systems. Many people are under the impression "Oh, it really doesn't matter. It's just the internet".

    So, if they are held financially responsible for the damage they help cause, they will spend the time it takes to update their computers.

    Also, Microsoft needs to get a clue. I've visited windows update before. You select all the updates and then it tells you "You can't select this update along with any others". So, you have to install that one single update by itself...and then REBOOT. That's about the stupidest thing I've ever heard. Why don't they make it so you can download ALL the updates, then reboot as necessary AFTER you've gotten all the updates. Don't make the process take an hour or more with multiple visits to windowsupdate.