Forum: Community Center


Subject: A warning about viruses at scifi3d.com

JAG opened this issue on Jun 22, 2009 · 9 posts


JAG posted Thu, 25 June 2009 at 5:48 PM

I wouldn't really rely on McAffee...there about as useless as Symantec/Nortons at blocking or protecting anything.  These new malware programs are using Adobe Acrobat as a backdoor through IE's security and once active, it uses Acrobat to download even more files from their sites until you are swamped.  I also got hit again this morning on one of the free Renderosity model hosts from the freestuff.  I've sent the poster a message so he can move the file off that particular host, but from what I've read online in security blogs the last few days, the a-holes are blitzing the internet using random banner exchanges to shift their attacks.  Basically speaking, the site flashes a banner...and it's fine...nobody gets infected...then a new visitor logs in and the banner changes and it's the ahole file and it infects this person's system...next person comes along and the banner is different and safe again.  So it's possible for one person to get infected while another 1000 don't.  So the site blockers and such are useless in this situation.  Also, this particular bunch are using pseudo-software...a con in which they load an HTML document that looks like a real antivirus software program and tellls you that you have viruses, click here to buy their software to remove them.  If you don't click, it then proceeds to swamp your system and take it over with malware.  The software is a virus itself and the method is not only illegal but is actual digital fraud.  The programs have been traced to Russia, but that's about all currently, and the security people are scrambling to keep up, but they are changing the file names daily as well as their imbeded locations.  It is seriously, seriously nasty.  So everybody just stay aware of things and watch it.  In the fifteen years I've been a tech-head out here in cyber land I've never seen a bunch like this...and it's proliferating.