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Clock Ticking for Nyxem Virus

Posted by Hemos on from the cue-jeopardy-theme-song dept.

DoddyUK writes "The BBC is reporting that the countdown has begun for the Nyxem virus. On February 3rd, common documents such as MS Word, Excel or Powerpoint will be overwritten on infected machines. Over 300,000 machines have been infected thus far, the main method of infection being the promise of porn in unsolicited emails."

9 of 72 comments (clear)

  1. Who out there stilll doesn't get it? by TripMaster+Monkey · · Score: 2, Insightful

    From TFA:
    Nyxem is thought to have caught out many people by promising porn to those who open the attachments on e-mail messages carrying the virus.
    Honestly, are there still computer users out there...even regular users...who don't know this is a bad idea by now???
    --
    ____

    ~ |rip/\/\aster /\/\onkey

    1. Re:Who out there stilll doesn't get it? by Fred+Or+Alive · · Score: 4, Insightful

      As 's elections show, there's an unlimited supply of stupid people in the world.

      --
      10 PRINT "LOOK AROUND YOU ";
      20 GOTO 10
    2. Re:Who out there stilll doesn't get it? by sepelester · · Score: 2, Insightful

      "Hey,I'm at work. I don't care. The IT guy will take care of it if it's a virus" is still a common way of dealing with the problem.

    3. Re:Who out there stilll doesn't get it? by sqlrob · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Wow what an optimist.

      Melissa didn't do it.
      Love didn't do it
      MyDoom didn't do it.

      Why do you think this will?

  2. av precautions by AndyST · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I'd fancy a virus overwriting common software such as MS Word, Excel or Powerpoint.

    Jokes aside. A colleague wrote to the department to look out for the virus, backup all documents, bla bla.. I replyed, being the one who installed the av software, that updates are run hourly and that everybody is safe if they apply the same precautions which they usually (should) do.

    So who is right? Me or the colleague who eventually said that my reply to all was conterproductive?

    1. Re:av precautions by AntiDragon · · Score: 3, Insightful

      That's a loaded question! Woo...

      Depends on the reliability of your AV and how well it's monitored (i.e. Can you identify any non-protected machines quickly) as the Virus attempts to disable AV software. Remember - there's always a nice window of opportunity between a virus doing the rounds and your AV software being updated to detect it. In this specific example, it'd only need one infected machine with access to some general shares to cause havoc come Feburary 3rd. Just one machine. AV won't stop a standard "Delete" command coming from an authenticated workstation.

      You're very likely perfectly safe. But never assume anything... :D

      As regards to backup, well, I'd never let users be responsible for backups anyway. That should be taken care of automatically - either to tape or secure off-site server storage (and preferably non-windows based) on a very regular basis. Relying on users for any part of data security is A Bad Thing (TM). It's not their fault, but they inverably make dangerous and costly mistakes.

      Besides, you just *know* that their gonna copy the contents of their home directories to their workstation harddrives and then wonder how their files got deleted from both locations anyway....

      Damn, I'm cynical on a Monday!

      --
      "...So I hung back and lurked. For 18 months. Can't beat a good old-fashioned lurking."
    2. Re:av precautions by andrewmc · · Score: 4, Insightful
      So who is right? Me or the colleague who eventually said that my reply to all was conterproductive?
      I'd agree with your colleague on two points: 1) Telling people not to worry about computer security is just plain wrong. Users need to have it in the backs of their mind that while you are indeed trying to protect them, that relying solely on that is an accident waiting to happen. 2) Suppose an infected machine does make it onto your network? Since the virus can destroy files on remote network shares, it is, as I understand it, still possible data loss can occur on remote machines that are "immune" to the virus.
  3. Is it really as widespread as claimed? by prefect42 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    We've had all sorts of warnings about this bugger, but I've yet to actually see an infected machine.

    Is this just hysteria whisked up by the AV vendors?

    --

    jh

  4. Re:The motive? by dheltzel · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Maybe economic chaos? The virus goes after MS Office files and pdfs, the files that are 9/10 the most economically valuable on a PC. I wonder what the impact of getting rid of massive amounts of these files would be?

    Think of it as a long overdue purge of useless and redundant data on the systems of people who can't be bothered to learn a little about how their computer works or even listen to warning from people who do know a bit. Sort of a way of killing off all the stupid ideas and worthless information before they can do any more harm.

    I know that seems harsh, but the only way I learned how crucial backups are was due to some loss of data (personal, fortunately, not the kind that gets you fired). That lesson has remained fresh in my mind for nearly 20 years. If someone survives an attack without great loss, they are more inclined to be complacent about the next threat. If they do lose something of value, they will consider how to reduce their risk in the future (tested backups, run Linux, don't click on email attachments without caution, etc.).