NEWS CATEGORIES:

NEWS ARCHIVE >>
SOFTPEDIA REVIEWS >>

Home / News / Security / Virus alerts

Virus alerts

Stration Worm Variant Poses as Security Patch In the wake of the MSIE VML vulnerability	By Marius Oiaga, Technology News Editor 25th of September 2006, 14:53 GMT Adjust text size:


SophosLabs has issued a public warning informing of the presence of a Stration worm variant that is spreading aggressively through email systems. Sophos has informed via a press release that the new version of the worm was first detected in the morning of September 25, 2006 and has advised users to exercise caution when handling unsolicited emails. Moreover, Sophos has disclosed that the worm implements various strategies to spread via emails, including using messages apparently generated by a security company that warns of a potential compromising of the victim's machine. "This new offspring of the Stration worm is being seen widely at email gateways today, attempting to infect unsuspecting computer users," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos. "Anyone accessing their email has to learn to resist the temptation of opening unsolicited attachments, and ensure their anti-virus protection is kept fully up-to-date." A Windows vulnerability is thrown in the context, in order to make the scenario believable and to act as sufficient incentive to get the victim to execute the file attached to the message: Update-KB7859-x86.zip (which contains the file Update-KB7859-x86.exe), promising that is an update that would help clean the malicious software. "Many Windows users are waiting anxiously for Microsoft to fix the VML flaw in its code, which has been exploited by hackers online," added Cluley. "It's possible that the people behind the Stration worm are playing on the Internet community's heightened concern while they are left unprotected by Microsoft, and may be able to fool innocent users into rushing into running the malicious update. The lesson to learn is that you should only ever get your security patches from the vendors' official website, not from an unsolicited email."

Rating:

Good (3.0/5)

5 vote(s) so far

Read by 1,096 user(s) | Add comment | Link to this article

Subscribe to news |

Print article |

Send to friend

© Copyright 2001-2008 Softpedia
Contact:

SEARCH THE NEWS ARCHIVE :

Today's News | Yesterday's News | News Archive

MORE RELATED ARTICLES:

Sophos's New Principal Virus Researcher Comes from McAfee

Sophos Reports August 2006 Malware Threats

"Pump-and-dump" Spammers Deliver Personalized Services

Spamming Casinos Promise Live Nude Dealers

German Universities to Implement Sophos Security Solutions

Vordel Partners with Sophos over XML Protection

Won't You Please Spam My Spam?

Michael Rogers is New Vice President of Sophos Channel Sales

User opinions:

No user comments yet.

Be the first to express your opinion using the form below!

Share your opinion:

SUBMIT PROGRAM \| ADVERTISE \| GET HELP \| SEND US FEEDBACK \| RSS FEEDS \| ENTER NEWS SITE \| ENGLISH BOARD \| ROMANIAN FORUM
© 2001 - 2008 Softpedia. All rights reserved. Softpedia™ and the Softpedia™ logo are registered trademarks of SoftNews NET SRL.	Copyright Information \| Privacy Policy \| Terms of Use \| Update your software \| Archive