Some viruses just never die!

Aug 28, 2007 10:33 GMT  ·  By

The fact that a virus does not go on a daily rampage does not mean it's not on the Internet or that it's obsolete. Many viruses have periods when they infect anything and then, for certain periods of time, they just sit quietly infecting one or two users per day. And this is just something normal for all threats. They escalate when a program flaw appears, decrease when it has been fixed and they increase again when other softwares get the same bug. There is nothing alarming about this.

There are 2 viruses that have recently caught my attention: one is Slammer and the other is Jeefo. Now, one concerns IBM, while the second one affects PCs with Windows on them.

To be frank, I didn't get it when several people mailed me, saying they have Jeefo and that their anti-virus does nothing to disinfect it. What the hell!? To be honest, I never had such problems with my AV, maybe it's an updated version of Jeefo, maybe their AVs were buggy or not up-to-date, I don't know. In any case, I don't think this virus is going to wreak havoc anytime soon, but just to be on the safe side, you can protect yourself with JeefoGUI, which is an open application.

That was just a minor case of an "undead virus" but a more concerning one is Slammer. As I've read on Network World, the IBM Internet Security Service researchers have discovered this malware to threaten machines once again. It was first disclosed about 4 years ago and it had a quiet period, but now it is the threat most encountered by the IBM ISS.

And these are just 2 examples, to show you that this is possible. Don't think that once a viral threat gets weaker it won't pop up again at full strength! Get your anti-viruses up to date, now!