More information about the Trojan.ByteVerify virus

There seems to be some very persistent RUSSIAN hackers trying to get into YOUR computer, and mine. The exploit is a security vulnerability which recently made the news, known as the WMF exploit. In a nutshell, it sends a graphic file, which if opened (by you clicking on the link) will cause a buffer overflow (or any one of several other kinds of errors), which will then invoke a contingency script. In this case it executes a java script which attempts to install four instances of various class objects on your computer, which will give them full access to your computer. They could even give themselves exclusive administrative rights, locking you out.

Here's a link to the Symantec security bulletin regarding that:

http://securityresponse.symantec.com/av ... erify.html
Also a link to the Microsoft security bulletin:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/securi ... 3-011.mspx

oh, ONE MORE THING... before you click on THAT or ANY OTHER HYPERTEXT, here or ANYWHERE, do yourself a favor: right-click on the hypertext, click on "PROPERTIES", and make sure the link is what it claims to be. In the case of the infected post from the Russian hacker, right-clicking on any of the text will reveal the true URL, which contains the .ru suffix indicating a Russian server.

Not all computers are vulnerable to this. The IE6 service pack two will protect, as will the download from MS, and virtually all antivirus packages if kept up-to-date. Or you could do like Yardbird, boot linux and use a different (non-MS) browser. Meanwhile, keep your deflector shields up and your photon torpedos dry, and finger on the trigger. Transfer energy from the engines to the shields only if necessary.

This is slightly off-topic. But since these guys are so persistent I thought some here might like to know what they are up to. Even more off-topic, I thought the RUSSIAN skaters did splendid this evening!