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New IM Worm Installs Own Web Browser

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the safety-first-everyone dept.

Aquafinality writes "A new IM worm discovered recently takes the novel step of installing its own web browser onto the victims PC. Ironically titled "The Safety Browser", its default settings actually make your PC less secure - switching on pop-ups, changing your home page and hijacking your desktop with a looped music track that plays every time you switch your computer on. It's clear people cannot resist clicking "yes" to anything they're presented with via IM - with this in mind, what on Earth can we do so stop the spread of garbage like the above? To put it another way, will reducing the amount of potential "suckers" out there dissuade the bad guys from coming up with ever-more elaborate ideas such as this latest scam? Or is IM safety a lost cause?"

16 of 479 comments (clear)

  1. It seems there's only one thing we can do. by Ant+P. · · Score: 5, Funny

    Make "Yes" buttons, by default, HURT people physically.

    1. Re:It seems there's only one thing we can do. by nbannerman · · Score: 3, Funny

      The first person to combine a goatse popup with your idea gets a million quid bonus ;)

    2. Re:It seems there's only one thing we can do. by Pheersome · · Score: 2, Funny

      I refer you to Gabe's experience with such.

      --
      Better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.
  2. Awww by LiquidCoooled · · Score: 2, Funny

    Its for Windows and Internet Explorer only :(

    Why can't this run on Linux?

    --
    liqbase :: faster than paper
  3. Geeks want to know by Giant+Ape+Skeleton · · Score: 5, Funny
    The question on every Slashdotter's mind:

    does the browser pass the Acid2 test?

    --
    The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.
  4. Isn't gonna happen. by Dorsai65 · · Score: 5, Funny

    When you try to make everything idiot-proof, you just raise the quality of the remaining idiots.

    --
    --- Asking inconvenient questions for over 30 years...
  5. Re:IM safety? by OffTheLip · · Score: 4, Funny

    "Some "good" news, however - SP2 seems to prevent this music from playing in the background." Since Napster is out and other P2P apps will land me in jail I was hoping this music would be a way to add to my MP3 collection. Damn SP2!

  6. My quarter to two in the morning idea by craznar · · Score: 5, Funny

    Split the friggin' internet in half.

    Give out odd numbered IP addresses to Linux users, and even numbered addresses to Windows Users.

    Then Linux computers just turn off access from even numbered source addresses.

    Problem solved.

    Ok - time for bed.

    --
    EMail: 0110001101100010010000000110001101110010 0110000101111010011011100110000101110010 0010111001100011011011110110
  7. The browser it installs is.... by madnuke · · Score: 5, Funny

    Internet Explorer 7!

  8. Do the Safety Browse by i_should_be_working · · Score: 4, Funny

    We can browse if we want to,
    we can leave your friends behind
    Cause your friends dont browse and if they dont browse
    Well theyre are no friends of mine

    I say, we can browse where we want to,
    catch a virus we will never find
    And we can act like we come from out of this OS
    Leave the real one far behind,

  9. Well... by Wellington+Grey · · Score: 4, Funny

    what on Earth can we do so stop the spread of garbage like the above? To put it another way, will reducing the amount of potential "suckers" out there dissuade the bad guys from coming up with ever-more elaborate ideas such as this latest scam?

    Clearly there isn't enough evolutionary pressure on the heard. What the good guys need to do is build computers that explode when the user does something stupid.

    -Grey

    --
    Silver Clipboard: Time Management Tips
  10. Call me a glutton for punishment by Mr+Z · · Score: 4, Funny

    Does anyone have a link to the really bad music this worm subjects its victims to? Hearing it would seriously enhance my sense of schadenfreude...

    --Joe
    --
    Program Intellivision!
  11. Yes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    It's clear people cannot resist clicking "yes" to anything they're presented with via IM - with this in mind, what on Earth can we do so stop the spread of garbage like the above? To put it another way, will reducing the amount of potential "suckers" out there dissuade the bad guys from coming up with ever-more elaborate ideas such as this latest scam? Or is IM safety a lost cause?

    "Yes"

    "Yes" "Yes" "Yes" "Yes"

    Why isn't this working?

    "Yes" "Yes"...

    ...

    I give up.

  12. The solution.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    The only solution to this problem is to kill all the people.

    Unfortunately we can't do that yet, so the problem remains unsolveable.

  13. I have a solution! by wolrahnaes · · Score: 2, Funny

    Build computers with a robot arm that will reach out and smack the user in the back of the head every time they're about to run an EXE from a IM or popup.

    A slightly lower-tech implementation has worked for me. When my friends ask me to fix their computer for the 30 billionth time after they infected it, I smack them in the back of the head and tell them not to be a moron, and then send them on to pay the Geek Squad to deal with their problems.

    Where these people used to be reinfecting themselves on a weekly basis, they seem to have stopped now, so a combination of physical and wallet pain seems to be the best motivation to not be a retard.

    --
    I used to get high on life, but I developed a tolerance. Now I need something stronger.
  14. How to remove the worm by suv4x4 · · Score: 2, Funny

    A new IM worm discovered recently takes the novel step of installing its own web browser onto the victims PC... It's clear people cannot resist clicking "yes" to anything they're presented with via IM - with this in mind, what on Earth can we do so stop the spread of garbage like the above?

    If you get infected, your IM might ask you if you want to get rid of a dangerous IM worm, just click yes and you'll be ok.
    You also get very cheap C1ALi5, dunno what is it, but it seems like a great deal, so I ordered a bunch.