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The Only Thing Worse Than a Virus Writer is...

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  • The Only Thing Worse Than a Virus Writer is...

    ...a STUPID virus writer.

    Seriously, dude-or-dudette, we need to talk. If you're going to write a Rogue Antispyware program, with the purpose of conning people out of money, maybe you shouldn't completely lock out the means for them to actually pay you, huh?

    Seriously, I've been buried the last two days removing one that got passed around the office (By the way, thanks ladies of the office email chain, for passing around that link to an infected website. Please, die in a fire, being molested by polar bears using weed whackers.). I hate these things as it is, but this one was an exorcise in poor planning. First, it wants the person to pay for the phoney software, but actually disables the web browser so they can't. Brilliant! Kumquat-in-a-light-socket brilliant! It also marks all the files it can find as hidden, so most users can't even find another web browser to use. It actually protects the user from sending these thieves money! I don't know whether to be happy in its failure, or pissed that they wasted so much of my time with such putrid, idiotic code.

    At least now we're getting They-Who-Sit-Above-All-And-Lunch-With-City-Muckity-Mucks on board with locking down the systems--even if it will now be a bit more draconian than first planned. Now no one (well, except me, boss, and some upper management) will be able to install even a music player without say-so, and internet use will be monitored at the server level, rather than on an as-needed basis (read: person suspected of browsing instead of working). Once again the few screw it up for the many who were responsible in their computer use.

    Days like this is why I like the Dynasty Warriors games. Going home and slaughtering a few thousand users warriors really sounds good right about now.
    The Rich keep getting richer because they keep doing what it was that made them rich. Ditto the Poor.
    "Hy kan tell dey is schmot qvestions, dey is makink my head hurt."
    Hoc spatio locantur.

  • #2
    Was it that Win 7 Security thing? I got hit with that on Saturday afternoon. Got rid of it by doing a system restore to Friday morning.
    "Things that fail to kill me make me level up." ~ NateWantsToBattle, Training Hard (Counting Stars parody)

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    • #3
      Quoth firecat88 View Post
      Was it that Win 7 Security thing? I got hit with that on Saturday afternoon. Got rid of it by doing a system restore to Friday morning.
      Nah, it called itself Windows Restore--it seems to be a new version of the Vista Optimizer Tools series. It gives a bunch of messages about how your HDD is failing, and marks a bunch of folders as Hidden--including the Start Menu for All Users and the user Desktops. Agrivating little bastard to remove as it blocks most of the AV software run from the HDD, and disables Task Manager. I did an end run by running Malwarebytes from a flash drive. It kills the virus, but doesn't unmark hidden files. You have to do that yourself.
      The Rich keep getting richer because they keep doing what it was that made them rich. Ditto the Poor.
      "Hy kan tell dey is schmot qvestions, dey is makink my head hurt."
      Hoc spatio locantur.

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      • #4
        mmmmm
        tacos


        Sorry, what? got distracted by firecat's sig for a second.


        Umm, yah. I have run into a few of those Wile E Coyote Super Geniuses. Fortunately not in the virus front, but in the AMAZINGLY well configured spam bots. You know, the ones that have some great offer inside and the body of the email is blank? Or the phishing scams that ask for you to click a link, that they didn't give you?

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        • #5
          Quoth Geek King View Post
          It kills the virus, but doesn't unmark hidden files. You have to do that yourself.
          attrib -r -h /s /d

          from C:/

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          • #6
            Quoth Geek King View Post
            (By the way, thanks ladies of the office email chain, for passing around that link to an infected website. Please, die in a fire, being molested by polar bears using weed whackers.)
            Lightweight.

            Now this is how you deal with those people.
            I AM the evil bastard!
            A+ Certified IT Technician

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            • #7
              Damn you....


              There goes my weekend
              Lady, people aren't chocolates. D'you know what they are mostly? Bastards. Bastard-coated bastards with bastard filling. Dr Cox - Scrubs

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              • #8
                Quoth Naaman View Post
                Damn you....


                There goes my weekend
                Happy to oblige.
                I AM the evil bastard!
                A+ Certified IT Technician

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                • #9
                  but....but...... I need to help Prime Minster AaSGHfGDFG%$$# of (Some African country) , free his rebel forces and get me the millions of dollars of ClickityClack dollars good at banana republic.

                  I mean, what is a bank account, social security number, birth date between friends. And well since I already just him so much because I mean he is offering me half his fortune, when he asks me to install a program to prevent the anti-resistance fighters from tracking the e-mails, well I did mention I trust my dear african friend who e-mailed me out of the blue and rarely knows my name, and from the various e-mails I have gotten is not to sure of his either.
                  I'm sorry reading is not a new concept it has been widely taught in our nation for at least the past 100 years. Please, learn to do it CORRECTLY before you become contagious.

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                  • #10
                    I recently received a phishing attempt by email that was the most beautiful example of spoofed headers I've ever seen in my life. They were, in a word, PERFECT.

                    But the message body was so poorly done, it ruined the entire effect. It's like they had a true Guru doing the header spoofing, and a complete moron writing the actual phishing message.

                    The moron had copied & pasted a real email from the company in question, including all the proper logos and formatting. But they had apparently decided that some portions of it were spelled wrong, because they replaced those with Engrish. They also forgot to change the URLs to point to their own site rather than that of the the legitimate company.

                    Were it not for the Engrish, I'd never have noticed anything wrong with any part of the entire phishing attempt, and I do routinely look at message headers.

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