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Kama Sutra Worm Hits Softly

An anonymous reader writes "Despite warnings of the danger posed by the Kama Sutra worm, ZDNet is reporting that things haven't been nearly as bad as expected." From the article: "There have been 'no reports of any (Kama Sutra) detonations so far. Also, the virus seems to be dropping in e-mail prevalence. It was down to second place yesterday, according to our monitoring stations, and slid again into third place today,' Paul Ducklin, head of technology at Sophos Asia-Pacific, told ZDNet Australia. The worm's ranking was overtaken by MyDoom and Netsky variants, which have been around for a number of years. "

41 of 175 comments (clear)

  1. What? I don't understand.... by JustASlashDotGuy · · Score: 5, Funny

    It sounds like the news over hyped a story for no reason. Say it ain't so!

  2. Uh oh... by suwain_2 · · Score: 3, Funny

    I got:
    Nothing for you to see here. Please move along.
    the first few times I tried to view this article. Are we sure Slashdot isn't infected?

    --
    ________________________________________________
    suwain_2 :: quality slashdot p
  3. Old Threats by Nom+du+Keyboard · · Score: 4, Insightful
    overtaken by MyDoom and Netsky variants, which have been around for a number of years.

    I, for one, would favor a slightly smarter Internet that simply filtered out known threats, stopping any further spread once they're identified. The fact that attacks continue to run years after they're first known is just plain stupid!

    --
    "It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
    1. Re:Old Threats by kevin.fowler · · Score: 5, Funny

      There is no patch for user stupidity.

      --
      Bury me in mashed potatoes.
    2. Re:Old Threats by JesseL · · Score: 5, Funny
      --
      "Prefiero morir de pie que vivir siempre arrodillado!"
  4. Racy Title by Artie_Effim · · Score: 5, Funny

    that might just be the raciest title on a /. article ever. W0W

    1. Re:Racy Title by oliana · · Score: 4, Funny

      How 'bout "Kama Sutra peaks prematurely" or "Kama Sutra comes with a whimper, not a bang"

      --
      In Soviet Russia, asses suck this joke.
  5. The media loves it by JesseL · · Score: 2, Insightful

    when there is a particular date they can get in a tizzy about. No one will know they were making a mountain out of a mole hill until the "crisis" has passed. Remeber the michelangelo virus?

    --
    "Prefiero morir de pie que vivir siempre arrodillado!"
    1. Re:The media loves it by Lxy · · Score: 2, Interesting

      One source I saw (was it /. yesterday?) actually suggested keeping your computers turned off today. All too familiar with the big Michroangelo scare of 1990 (oh geez I'm old...)

      --

      There is no reasonable defense against an idiot with an agenda
      :wq
    2. Re:The media loves it by Dynedain · · Score: 4, Funny

      Do I ever... My father insisted on turning off the answering machine, because it was digital one that did voice stamps and other complex features, and the "virus could spread through the phone lines".

      +1 to my dad for knowing that the answering machine did have a computer as a component
      -100 for thinking that it was susceptible to a virus dialing it up and infecting it

      --
      I'm out of my mind right now, but feel free to leave a message.....
  6. Re:What? I don't understand.... by l33t.g33k · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Sorry, it IS so. The media uses end-of-the-world headlines because it gets people riled up and excited, and this news about the Kama Sutra worm falls into that category...

    --
    My sig is permanently on strike.
  7. The big question remains by Lxy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Does this mean A) we've done a good job training our users or B) no one infected with this worm is willing to admit it?

    Most of the users I support would rather reconstruct their documents than admit they clicked on a "free pr0n" e-mail. Wonder how accurate this news really is.

    --

    There is no reasonable defense against an idiot with an agenda
    :wq
    1. Re:The big question remains by Jazzer_Techie · · Score: 2, Informative

      The people over at F-Secure seem to think it's too early for any real damage assesment. Their arguement makes a lot of sense.
      --
      From the weblog:
      So far today we haven't received any significant Nyxem damage reports.
      Vast majority of the machines infected by Nyxem are home computers. Nothing will happen on them until people get home from work and boot up their machines. Half an hour later the damage starts. The user won't realise what's going on until an hour or two later, when it's already late Friday night.
      The full scope of the problem won't come to light until during the weekend or early next week.
      We'd like to think that they whole problem was avoided and everybody cleaned up their machines in time. But unfortunately that's probably not true.

  8. Killing me softly by TubeSteak · · Score: 3, Funny

    I felt all flushed with fever, embarrassed by the crowd,
    I felt he found my letters and read each one out loud.
    I prayed that he would finish but he just kept right on ...

    Strumming my pain with his fingers,
    Singing my life with his words,
    Killing me softly with his song,
    Killing me softly with his song,
    Telling my whole life with his words,
    Killing me softly with his song...

    That's what came to mind when i read the title "Kama Sutra Worm Hits Softly." It's not my fault though, my mother subjected me to years of 'light' music on my way to school.

    Anyways, I'm not surprised the media took this one and ran with it. When was the last time they had a 'major' malicious virus to talk about?

    --
    [Fuck Beta]
    o0t!
    1. Re:Killing me softly by dr_dank · · Score: 3, Funny

      It's not my fault though, my mother subjected me to years of 'light' music on my way to school.

      Years of 80s music made me think that this was the Karma Chameleon worm. Seems to come and go. Whoa-o-o.

      --
      Where does the school board find them and why do they keep sending them to ME?
  9. Re:What? I don't understand.... by whoever57 · · Score: 4, Insightful
    It sounds like the news over hyped a story for no reason. Say it ain't so!
    Oh, there is a reason alright. Think how many extra subscriptions of Norton, McAfee, etc. were sold in the last couple of days.
    --
    The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
  10. duh, this is the foreplay by syle · · Score: 5, Funny

    Of course it's soft at first. But wait until it changes positions a few times! It will be surprisingly intense before long.

    --

    /syle

  11. Re:What? I don't understand.... by Pantero+Blanco · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Possibly, the reason it didn't hit so hard was the fact that it was so hyped.

    If someone warns me that I'm about to get hit by a car, and I move and avoid being hit, I wouldn't say that there was nothing to be worried about.

  12. IT'S NOT A WORM! by SanityInAnarchy · · Score: 4, Informative

    It's a virus.

    Surely Slashdot knows the difference? A virus/trojan relies on user stupidity. A worm relies on software insecurity.

    --
    Don't thank God, thank a doctor!
    1. Re:IT'S NOT A WORM! by TheSkyIsPurple · · Score: 5, Informative

      Really?

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_worm

      A computer worm is a self-replicating computer program, similar to a computer virus. A virus attaches itself to, and becomes part of, another executable program; however, a worm is self-contained and does not need to be part of another program to propagate itself....The main difference between a computer virus and a worm is that a virus can not propagate by itself whereas worms can. A worm uses a network to send copies of itself to other systems and it does so without any intervention

      This thing (from what little I read) emails itself around when it can... which would qualify it as a worm.
      I'm a little fuzzy on the intervention part... the user has to to the initial activation, which could be intervention, but then again you have to do the initial activation with viruses, so I don't think that qualifies.

      This thing doesn't seem to make itself part of another executable persé, so it wouldn't quite qualify as a virus.

      Maybe I read my definitions wrong...

    2. Re:IT'S NOT A WORM! by Viper+Daimao · · Score: 2, Funny

      duh, its because worm fits better with the imagery of the name "Kama Sutra".

      --
      "In the game of life, someone always has to lose. To me, if life were fair, that someone would always be Oklahoma." -DKR
  13. Re:What? I don't understand.... by PornMaster · · Score: 4, Insightful

    And think how many more people, having done that, are at least in some way a little more protected from becoming a spam zombie.

  14. Comparisons to other worms are misleading by Max+Nugget · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The worm's ranking was overtaken by MyDoom and Netsky variants, which have been around for a number of years.

    This information distorts the issue. Kama Sutra carries an extremely destructive payload, deleting a user's local data and data on attached network drives (and, worse, the antivirus software on the networked computers can't prevent these deletions). This cannot be directly compared to MyDoom or NetSky, which merely clog networks, install backdoors (that are not usually used for anything nearly as destructive), and turn computers into spam and DoS zombies.

    The above statement is like saying that rainstorms have overtaken tornados in prevalence. That doesn't matter, because tornados do much, much more damage than rainstorms do.

    1. Re:Comparisons to other worms are misleading by JesseL · · Score: 4, Informative

      Actually, from what I gather rain does cause more damage than tornadoes. In 1999 rain (floods) caused $5.4 billion in property damage in the US, while tornadoes caused $1.1 billion worth of damage.

      http://www.flooddamagedata.org/data/national331401 4-495.txt
      http://sciencepolicy.colorado.edu/sourcebook/torna does.html

      --
      "Prefiero morir de pie que vivir siempre arrodillado!"
  15. Delayed reaction by MoogMan · · Score: 5, Insightful

    In all fairness though, you may not notice a critical document has been lost until a few days down the line...

  16. Or a smarter Microsoft by GodWasAnAlien · · Score: 2, Insightful

    A new MS company that fixes bugs that the viruses are taking advantage of.

    How many here, have had a win-sysadmin, send out messages "please don't open mails with the subjest 'OpenMePlease', it will possibly cause bad things."

    Sounds like a serious bug with the mail program. The mail program should not by default run attached programs or open attatche documents that trigger macros.

  17. More prepared? better prepared? by guildsolutions · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I really think that people are becoming more and more prepared for viruses, I would also venture to say that more and more people are running virus scanners and more and more isps are filtering the content of the emails and other methods of transmissions.

    Overreaction? Maybe, but definitly better than underreaction.

  18. Soft ehh, by stevea1210 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Looks like someone could use a little blue pill before using the Kama Sutra.

  19. Misprint in the virus email subject by killermookie · · Score: 3, Funny

    Instead of it saying "Schoolgirl fantasies gone wrong" it said "Schoolgirl does math homework and studies history".

  20. Yeah But... by Comatose51 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Yeah but just wait til the Tantra worm hits... wait for it... wait for it....

    --
    EvilCON - Made Famous by /.
  21. "Despite"? by Thad+Boyd · · Score: 2, Informative

    Despite warnings, or BECAUSE of them? The Houston Chronicle thinks the latter, and I'm inclined to agree.

  22. Dang it! by darthservo · · Score: 3, Funny
    I was planning on this thing being big!

    Now what am I going to do with 500,000 T-shirts, stickers, coffee mugs, mouse pads, and other miscellaneous paraphernalia printed with the slogan "I got pwned by Kama Sutra!"

    --

    Prove it.

  23. Re:What? I don't understand.... by Fishstick · · Score: 2, Informative

    Funny, but a nit-pick, if I may...

    * At least 18 - 5 = 13 years of training required by U.S. law.

    take a look a this: http://www.avert.org/aofconsent.htm

    the age of consent in the US differs from state to state, 18 in (quick count) only 13 states (most 16, 17)

    and the US State with the lowest AoC goes to... (drumroll)

    South Carolina @ 14!

    They should adopt "Lowest age of consent law in the union!" as their new state motto and put it on license plates.

    --

    There is much cruelty in the universe, John.
    Yeah, we seem to have the tour map.

  24. Re:What? I don't understand.... by TCQuad · · Score: 3, Insightful

    And think how many of those people now believe the little more protection they just purchased is absolute protection and that they're free to open any and all attachments they get from now on.

  25. Re:What? I don't understand.... by Fishstick · · Score: 3, Funny

    Ok, I screwed up (no pun intended)

    The great states of Iowa an Misouri also have 14, and where there are two different numbers for the same state it means

    the law within that country or state varies according to region or circumstances.

    So, I'm guessing 14 is legal if you are married (preferrably to a close relative), ;-)

    --

    There is much cruelty in the universe, John.
    Yeah, we seem to have the tour map.

  26. Kama Sutrat hits softly... by xutopia · · Score: 2, Funny

    It's called foreplay!!!

    I jest!! :-D

  27. Re:What? I don't understand.... by WlfRecon · · Score: 2, Insightful

    And just look at it this way, if a person was only prompted to install an AV system when the news hyped up this worm then do you think that same person will be very likely to keep the system updated and run regular checks? Doubtful.

    --
    Semper Fi
  28. Re:What? I don't understand.... by dusik · · Score: 2, Funny

    South Carolina @ 14!

    They should adopt "Lowest age of consent law in the union!" as their new state motto and put it on license plates.


    ... except a lot of people might object to the term "union" in SC :)

  29. Kama Sutra Worm Hits Softly by stringycheese · · Score: 2, Funny

    I thought this article was about a new sex toy

  30. Oh THAT one might have hit softly... by 20th+Century+Boy · · Score: 2, Funny

    The Scorpion Worm, however, will rock you like a hurricane.

  31. crying wolf? by dimeglio · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Healthy paranoia or y2k-like panic? Personally, from all the attention these warnings have generated, I was expecting mayham; instead, we get "no reports of Kama Sutra explosions."

    Maybe this was the reaction intended by the author of the worm - to prepare the real next BIG attack when no one pays attention to warnings anymore.

    --
    Views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the author.