Another fake MS patch virus out

[Paul K]

EWeek

In what has become a monthly staple, virus writers are taking advantage of the heightened public interest around Microsoft's patching cycle to trick users into executing a malicious attachment.

The latest social engineering trick arrives via e-mail with an attachment that purports to be a "cumulative patch" for May 2005.

The claim is that the executable file contains patches for vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer, Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Express, three widely used products with a history of serious security bugs.

The file is actually an executable for a variant of W32.Pinfi, a memory-resident polymorphic virus capable of replicated via mapped drives and network shares.

[Stuart]

As a reminder.

"This is a common scam," a Microsoft representative said Thursday. "It's important to remind customers that Microsoft will never attach software updates to security e-mail notifications."
She pointed out that most Microsoft software updates are provided through Microsoft Windows Update, Microsoft Office Update, or the Microsoft Download Center, adding that, as a best practice, "users should always exercise extreme caution when opening unsolicited attachments from both known and unknown sources."

So, just to summarize. Microsoft do NOT send attachments on email security updates (think about it logically, why would they put their SMTP servers under the huge extra strain when they have WindowsUpdate which is perfectly capable of distributing updates).

Also, Check Windows Update (& Office Update if you use office) regularly, paying attention to any downloads marked "critical". Or, just configure Automatic Updates.

Finally, be cautious when downloading email attachments. Only download them from people you know, and then make sure you scan them with an up to date virus checker.

[Paul K]

Originally Posted by scastle

As a reminder.

So, just to summarize. Microsoft do NOT send attachments on email security updates (think about it logically, why would they put their SMTP servers under the huge extra strain when they have WindowsUpdate which is perfectly capable of distributing updates).

Also, Check Windows Update (& Office Update if you use office) regularly, paying attention to any downloads marked "critical". Or, just configure Automatic Updates.

Finally, be cautious when downloading email attachments. Only download them from people you know, and then make sure you scan them with an up to date virus checker.

Wondered what you were doing for a minute there No doubt there are people out there that will still get caught out

[Stuart]

Originally Posted by Paul

Wondered what you were doing for a minute there

Had some slight trouble with my clipboard.. I copied the bit quoted, and when I pasted it, IE pasted the entire page..

[Paul K]

Been there, done that lol

[MadGamer]

Well im ok, because i dont use OE or Outlook

[Stuart]

Originally Posted by Wayne A

Well im ok, because i dont use OE or Outlook

Err, that's nothing to do with it.. If you recieved one of these emails, and double clicked the "attached update", you would still have an infected machine. Whatever browser or email client you use.