Kazaa trojan wipes out music files.

While On Internet I came cross a Alert message about "KAZAA"


'Eightball' Smacking KaZaA Users

Purported 'skin' is actually a trojan that wipes out music files.



Download the latest skin from KaZaA and you won't get a slick-looking piece of software. Instead, you'll install a virus that wipes out your music files. See what happened to our files when we tried installing the skin, tonight on "Tech Live."
Two viewers tipped us to the file, called the Magic Eightball skin. It comes as a Zip file named eightball2.zip. Once opened, the program executes on some systems, erasing music files and causing system crashes.
It was found the skin by searching the term "eightball skin" on KaZaA. The Zip file did not execute on a Windows 98 SE machine, saying it was missing a required DLL file. But on a Windows XP machine, the file executed and popped up a dialog box asking if we wanted to "see some magic."
When it was clicked on Yes and five more dialog boxes popped up, each one counting down: five, four, three, two, and then one.
When finished, all of the MP3 files stored on our system were gone. The system began popping up error messages, and we had to reboot the machine.

Steve Trilling from Symantec's Antivirus Research Center says he's seeing more cases of malicious code designed to exploit peer-to-peer networks. "What differentiates the impact of the code is how successfully they replicate," he says. "In other words, if a program reinstalls itself in a victim's shared drive, it is a better replicator than one that just executes a damaging payload, then expects the victim to manually put the file in their shared file."
The Eightball code doesn't seem to have a very sophisticated distribution mechanism.
So far the major antivirus companies have not addressed this particular trojan. For now, don't search for or download any KaZaA skins named Eightball.
Posted November 26, 2002


For Refernce click http://www.techtv.com/news/security/...409350,00.html

hmmmm, looks like the record industry is really doing what they said they were gunna do (they wanted permission to "hack" computers that had non legal music on them, anything from DOS attacks to crashes, i havnt heard anything from it but that would be an explenation for something that deletes all the MP3s, kinda stupid. the industry is really getting on my nerves, its not like there going broke and need an extra 3 billion dollars.

Thanks for the heads up, I'm sure the Kazaa junkies (unlike me) will be thankful.

I know I'll get negged for this, but am I the only one that thinks some of these networks are just ASKING for malicious stuff like this? I, for one, think that if you are careless enough to go around downloading free warez/mp3s/pron (or whatever you want to call the crap), and you go around installing new programs/skins/etc without checking them out first... you DESERVE to lose all your hijacked files.

Maybe it's time to update the old phrase "buyer beware" with it's 21st century variant "freeloaders better watch their f'in backs"

All I'm saying is that stuff like this is to be expected. Hopefully one day people will realize that NOTHING in this world is free and they'll stop complaining when free stuff doesn't work out the way they want. (And I don't just mean free in the money sense... some stuff is free monetarily but there is some diligence by the end user, ie virus-scanning, etc, that needs to take place).

Sorry SeanRager, not aimied at you.... I know you were just informing others. It just prompted my response :-)

Thats crazy! Thanks for the heads up! :)

I knew it was a matter of time until we'd see this. I expected it...

Conspiracy Theory: The RIAA prolly hired someone to write this virus. They've been trying to get this power so it makes sense. The gov wouldn't give it to them, so they just hired someone and took matters into their own hands...

I'll have to search for a little more about this and if any antivirus progs are detecting this.

And lease note that my response is not a defense of the music industry. But these p2p networks don't only hurt the big record labels, they hurt the end musician as well.

to be honest, the only things iv really downloaded, were songs from CDs that got stolen, which is why this bugs me, there assuming that everyone on there is rippin them off, i paid for two deftones CDs and both were stolen (same cd, bought it twice) so i downloaded bored and root, because they were songs i enjoyed, the Misfits videos i downloaded...yea ill buy em, as soon as there in a store, and as for the Acid Bath live songs, you cant get those in a store so im doubting its right to delete these things wen you cant replace them with cash.
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im gunna edit this instead of posting again, but i think of things like this more like a form of radio where you control what you listen to, why arent they going after radio and MTV? if i wanted i could record things of the radio much easier, and how hard would it be for someone to record a couple videos on MTV and transfer the songs to there computer? back in the napster days metallica was totally flippin cause theremusic was on there, dude! james (singer for anyone that doesnt know them) chill out man, be glad anyone even liked your newer music enough to waste there time downloading it! after they went pop there attitudes changed, cmon james think back to your bologne on hand days, couldnt afford bread but yet now that your making money on your music you want kids to pay 20 dollars for a few decent songs?? cmon man if you had napster durring those days youd be downloading to, just because you sold out and the most talented member of the band died (CLiff, RIP) doesnt mean you gotta be likeoh well they cant listen to our stuff unless we say so. if you dont want people listening to your music for free then take all your videos of MTV and dont let radio play your music either, i could record your stuff off of that and listen to it when i wanted to any time i wanted to also, dont get me wrong i like metallica, just the new stuff wasnt as good as kill em all, and to be honest i know why anestesia wasnt played live again, its because your replacement couldnt keep up with Cliff (RIP) i play bass and that song really is difficult to play, i can do MAYBE half the song before i cant keep up, (soory to ramble on about this but it buggs me that people get all mad over somethin like napster but will pay a station money to play it s people can listen to it free anyway, it makes no sence at all, if my band had songs on napster and people downloaded it i wouldnt be sueing(sp?) id be glad people liked it that much.
sometimes id download ongs from bands and if i liked it id buy the album (if it was in stores, remember i like alot of Punk rock and metal and stuff so not very many of my favorite bands are exactly in stock ya know?) and if i didnt like it id delete it, but i think these record companies are taking it a lil far, im not saying download holealbums and never spend money, im just saying that some of us arent really bad and actually do buy the albums we have an MP3 collection of.

Gore, I hear what you are saying and agree, but 99.999% of the peopl out there are not using these network for digital "backup" purposes. I think it's safe to assume what they're being used for, and I'll be wrong in the .001% of cases like yours :-)

yea i understand that, i wasnt offended or anything i know you werent meaning it that way, but yea i guess why i do it sometimes is pretty rare. lol.

Well, it's something that is easy to let get out of hand. Sure, I started getting files of CDs I had, but with that dangling mp3 carrot just one click away for that song I didn't have, it's hard to resist. I had around 22 gigs of mp3s at one time, and after a lot of soul searching I decided that I would delete them. Deep down I think it is wrong to take the files, but back to the original post regarding the trojan through Kazaa.

I think that the mentality that people should get "something for nothing" is what blindsides them to the "extra" something that they get (ie a trojan). No, I don't think that two wrongs is a right. I don't support people writing trojans for p2p networks... but look at what this trojan does. It doesn't (according to the post) erase all files, just mp3s. If nothing else, it should be a wakeup call to all those doing the downloads. If you were robbing a music store, you'd make sure nobody follows you home. If you're downloading off a p2p network, you should make sure you're not bringing other files/trojans back with you.

i agree bluebeard if your stupid enough to search for warez and other programs you didnt want to pay for , you can just expect a virus or trojan... but i think the ones who are just getting mp3's to listen to at home with no intent to make a profit should be allowed to get the music and enjoy it without the fear of a virus or trojan....but like you said the percentage of those people is awfully low...

Geez thanks for the heads up. Makes you wonder if all those music artists are getting back at all the KAZAA users for d/l their music :)

Quote:

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Originally posted here by paulie walnuts
i agree bluebeard if your stupid enough to search for warez and other programs you didnt want to pay for , you can just expect a virus or trojan... but i think the ones who are just getting mp3's to listen to at home with no intent to make a profit should be allowed to get the music and enjoy it without the fear of a virus or trojan....but like you said the percentage of those people is awfully low...

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Yes but despite the fact that they aren't searching for warez or anything and just mp3's to listen to, that is still detering profit from the Recording Industry and the Artist's that make those songs. No matter what your purpose is on Kazaa, you have to expect Virii/Trojans when you download ANYTHING off it. This is JMHO