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Skype Attacked by Fast-Spreading Virus

One more threat for the application

By Bogdan Popa, Security and Search Engines Editor

16th of April 2007, 09:39 GMT

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The links displayed by the virus
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Skype is surely one of the most popular applications on the Internet, but in the near future it might lose an important part of users because it proved it's not safe anymore. More and more security
reports are concerning Skype, most of them sustaining the program is affected by multiple viruses able to infect the users' computers. Today, another threat hits Skype, F-Secure identifying it as IM-Worm:W32/Pykse.A. According to the security company, the virus is spreading through Skype by sending a message to all online contacts of a user, encouraging them to visit a malicious link. Once visited, the website will download an infected script that will automatically install on your computer. After the installation is completed, it will show you the image of a woman and will start spreading using your system. It seems like the virus will set your status to DND (Do Not Disturb) and will also send a malicious link to all the online contacts.

Although there is no official solution to avoid the infection with the virus, the best protection against the threat is to avoid clicking on malicious links or unknown websites sent by your contacts. It might sound a little harsh, but you can compare the websites sent by your friends with the list published in the first image attached to the article.

The picture displayed at the end of the installation
Enlarge picture
McAfee also released a security report concerning a recent threat spreading on the Internet, sustaining the W32/Nuwar@MM worm is sent through spam messages. According to the security company, the virus is included in a password protected ZIP archive with the password displayed in a picture, GIF format, displayed in the email. McAfee advises users to avoid the execution of the files and avoid the messages with the "fix your machine" phrase included in the subject.

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skype | virus | spam
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