Spreading viruses?

[JohnL]

I got an email with a title to do with a virus called Klez.E (I think). The content was as follows:
________________________________
Klez.E is the most common world-wide spreading worm.It's very dangerous by corrupting your files.
Because of its very smart stealth and anti-anti-virus technic,most common AV software can't detect or clean it.
We developed this free immunity tool to defeat the malicious virus.
You only need to run this tool once,and then Klez will never come into your PC.
NOTE: Because this tool acts as a fake Klez to fool the real worm,some AV monitor maybe cry when you run it.
If so,Ignore the warning,and select 'continue'.
----------------------------------------
Out of paranoia, suspicion, and outright hostility to unsolicited emails from unknown sources, I didn't open the attachment, deleted the email, and blocked the sender.

Question: was this the right thing to do?

[plotloss]

Probably!

If you go to symantec.com there is a virus dictionary. There is all likelihood that if this is a hoax and the attached exe is itself a Trojan then it will be listed on there.

Matt.

[MajorClanger]

Has anyone used this lot www.antivirus.com ?

Our IT manager recommends it but I didn't know how 'good' it really is.

MC

[DanL]

Basically, don't ever do anything that mails like this suggest, as they almost invariably contain viruses. If in doubt (or curious) I generally feed a five or six word extract from the mail into Google and see what's returned. As these mails are sent out in bulk, it's very unusual to get no results for them.

In your case, I copied and pasted "of its very smart stealth and anti-anti-virus technic" and got this back:

www.snopes.com/computer/virus/immunity.htm

Dan

[pdv6]

Never never never open suspicious mail like this.
In fact, turn off the preview window if you're using Outlook or Outlook Express.
And get a virus checker.
And set it up to scan emails.

[plotloss]

It appears that that e:mail is a Klez.H spoof.

Click this for details:

http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/[e-mail]

Matt.

[Don]

This particular mail is a hoax. And that was the real Klez virus it would have installed.

Get Anti-Virus software. (Norton is good).

Decent AV software is updated on an almost daily basis so make sure you always download updates. Mine is set up to check if there is an update every single day!

You should be paranoid about this stuff. Klez is absolutely rife at the minute. My Mrs is getting about 10 a day caught by her software. We get about 20-30 e-mail viruses sent to us a night at our office - all caught by NAV.

[JonRB]

This is one of the Klez variants that spreads itself by social engineering - ie. trying to trick you into running an exe.

You did absolutely the right thing by not opening it.

Norton says this about it:

quote:The message may be disguised as an immunity tool. One version of this false message is as follows:

Klez.E is the most common world-wide spreading worm. It's very dangerous by corrupting your files. Because of its very smart stealth and anti-anti-virus technic,most common AV software can't detect or clean it.We developed this free immunity tool to defeat the malicious virus. You only need to run this tool once,and then Klez will never come into your PC.

NOTE: Because this tool acts as a fake Klez to fool the real worm,some AV monitor maybe cry when you run it. If so,Ignore the warning,and select 'continue'. If you have any question,please mail to me.

If the message is opened in an unpatched version of Microsoft Outlook or Outlook Express, the attachment may be automatically executed. Information about this vulnerability and a patch are available at
www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/MS01-020.asp

Source:
Symantec (click here)

>> Edited by JonRB on Thursday 10th October 11:44

[PetrolTed]

'Social Engineering'

'Con'

[JonRB]

quote:'Social Engineering'
'Con'

Surely a con that works is by definition an example of successful Social Engineering?

>> Edited by JonRB on Thursday 10th October 11:47

[N17 TVR]

I once knew a bird who did quite well in spreading genital warts..............

[mondeoman]

quote:
I once knew a bird who did quite well in spreading genital warts..............

Should this be in the Victorian Costume Drama thread??

[Big_M]

quote:
I once knew a bird who did quite well in spreading genital warts..............

Funny that - so did I - she was an absolute stunner as well. Made me feel quite smug for being a 'plain jane'