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Thread: Superviruses Threaten Email

  1. #1
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    Exclamation Superviruses Threaten Email

    A new breed of superviruses hidden in the content of email messages will stretch IT security to the limit, experts warn. Read it here.
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  2. #2
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    imho...that article sounded more like a press release than an article...wasn't alot to it...cept the scary title...

    seems to me that just a littie background info and backup to the claims would be warranted...and besides if they're claiming 100% they're either lying or stupid...(or have been taking pr lessons from larry ellison... )
    I used to be With IT. But then they changed what IT was. Now what I'm with isn't IT, and what's IT seems scary and weird." - Abe Simpson

  3. #3
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    seems to me that just a littie background info and backup to the claims would be warranted...and besides if they're claiming 100% they're either lying or stupid...(or have been taking pr lessons from larry ellison
    Hmmm, 100%? That's what I thought too.
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  4. #4
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    I agree. It sounds like pure press-release. No useful information, and a bunch of stuff to make themselves sound good. First, 100%? No way. Secondly, they have no technical information on how people are hiding viruses in TEXTUAL DATA of e-mail...

    "Yeah, that .txt file will erase your hard drive!!"
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  5. #5
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    I myself am not worried in the least over these 'supervirii'.......or "superviruses," as the article seems to call them. The only way in which these alleged virii would be likely to enter a system is through an attatchment, possibly referenced by an html email, or through embedded executable content. And anyone who would run an embedded executable from an email rather deserves what they get. Only those who are particularly clueless about opening attatchments, or those who use Outlook, would really be at risk.
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  6. #6
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    I agree. It sounds like pure press-release. No useful information, and a bunch of stuff to make themselves sound good. First, 100%? No way. Secondly, they have no technical information on how people are hiding viruses in TEXTUAL DATA of e-mail...
    It's worth noting that this was taken from "The Australian" which is an Australia-wide newspaper. They don't go into detail because they have such a large target audience (ie. it's not an IT-only publication). Maybe more was said. We don't know. If anyone does have more info please post it. I posted this to spark disussion which it looks like it has. I don't think the article was meant to be comprehensive in any way but it's something to think about .
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  7. #7
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    ...that article isnt even about email viruses...its got like 1 paragraph about these suposed "superviruses" and then rest is just "the company that found it is so great because of what they have done and here is a plug for the service they are going to start offering soon"
    -8-

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    discussion is always good....

    They don't go into detail because they have such a large target audience (ie. it's not an IT-only publication).

    this is actually a big prob...with this article and others...people who read it are likely to panic...or figure ..well if that's happening what can [I] do about it...and then they do nothing because in a way the article says we're already screwed no matter what we do...which is simply not the case...

    this is typical of the press tho..makes a great headline...and they don;t have to back it up with nothin....

    the biggest problems with security on the internet today are ignorance and apathy...search for my thread about 90+% of outlook users not having any patches installed...i mean who needs a supervirus when you have that kind of exploitable base...
    I used to be With IT. But then they changed what IT was. Now what I'm with isn't IT, and what's IT seems scary and weird." - Abe Simpson

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    omfg,
    That article was written by someone who know nothing about virii, security, or anything for that matter. Hmm. . . maybe it was bill gates who wrote it.
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  10. #10
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    Theoretically, how could text within a message do anything? Some sort of html/javascript/activeX exploit?
    I would hope it wouldn't be sometihng along the lines of this:

    In order to gain access to your free _____, please download a C compiler, copy and paste the follwing into it, compile it and save it as virus.exe, then run it.
    Elen alcarin ar gwath halla nĂ¡ engwar.

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