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Instant Messaging Vulnerable To New Smiley Attacks

Posted by timothy on from the clever-really dept.

titus writes "Security researchers Yoann Guillot and Julien Tinnes have found a way to encode malicious code into smileys and provided a proof of concept encoder to automate the process. The researchers said their discovery paves the way for IM malware that would be impossible to detect since the malicious code would be 'indistinguishable from genuine chat messages.' I've tested the proof of concept code which works very well. Time to panic?"

12 of 170 comments (clear)

  1. Virus Smiles!?! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Uh-oh, I knew all those 14 year old girls were really 1337 ha>0rz...

    1. Re:Virus Smiles!?! by Leafheart · · Score: 5, Funny

      I thought that was the reason for all the "Download best smiles EVER for MSN" links I saw around.

      --
      --- "When you gotta do something wrong. You gotta do it right. (Fighter)"
    2. Re:Virus Smiles!?! by sunami88 · · Score: 5, Funny

      Dad: Who hacked us!?

      Granny: idk my bff jill?

      I'll go kill myself now.

      --
      Sex. Drugs, and Unix.
  2. Take that! :-) by betterunixthanunix · · Score: 5, Funny

    And that! :-) (-:

    --
    Palm trees and 8
  3. Mom was right. by rackserverdeals · · Score: 4, Funny

    Smiles are contagious.

    --
    Dual Opteron < $600
  4. Re:Very.. by Brett+Buck · · Score: 4, Funny

    Yeah, opening for Kathy Griffin.

          April Fools Day is always a great opportunity to see that computer nerd humor is every bit as good as computer nerd social skills and personal hygiene.

            Brett

  5. Virus Variant by JerryLove · · Score: 5, Funny

    As I understand it, there is already a variant out undetectable to anti-smiley software as it embeds itself in a frowny-face.

    I wonder if it's transmittable on a discussion board as well? :(

  6. Re:Take that! :-) by Jason+Levine · · Score: 5, Funny

    Ack! Now I'm :-) infected. How could :-) you go posting :-) such a virulent :-) virus where :-) everyone could see i:-)t? I thin:-)k th:-)e inf:-)ect:-)ion's g:-)et:-)tin:-)g wo:-)rs:-)e n:-)o:-)w. I:-)'m of:-)f t:-)o pa:-)t:-)ch:-) m:-)y s:-)ys:-)te:-)m. :-):-):-):-):-)

    --
    My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
  7. More fun with smilies... by 6Yankee · · Score: 4, Funny

    I've always thought that it would be far more fun to get into someone's system (actually, lots of people's systems) and replace the smiley images. You send :) and, instead of getting a smiley face, they see an image that contains a sexually explicit proposition in the default MSN font. Imagine the chaos.

    Fortunately for the world, I can't write viruses. :D

  8. obligatory xkcd by WhiteDragon · · Score: 4, Funny

    http://xkcd.com/380/

    --
    Did you mount a military-grade, variable-focus MASER on an unlicensed artificial intelligence?
  9. Re:Awesome by GMFTatsujin · · Score: 5, Funny

    ^_^

  10. Re:Stop. Really, just stop by poena.dare · · Score: 4, Funny

    Your problem's between the chair and the keyboard.

    Nothing wrong with my penis. What you talkin about Willis?