Reasons to Avoid Microsoft

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Virus/Worm

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• MyDoom.F, other worms loose (ITWeb, 2004.02.26)
  Security experts warn that the latest variant of the fast-spreading MyDoom worm is gaining momentum globally, threatening to delete victims' files and launch attacks on Microsoft and music industry Web sites. ...it deletes random Microsoft Word documents, Excel spreadsheets and Access databases, as well as photos and movies stored on an infected computer. ...the worm also opens a back door on infected computers that could allow malicious hackers to run unauthorised code remotely.
  

• New warning over 'son of MyDoom' virus (Times Online, 2004.02.10)
  The new worm, known as DoomJuice, was detected last night and has so far infected at least 30,000 computers worldwide since it was activated on Sunday. ... 'People won't even realise their computers are being attacked, and then they'll have both Mydoom and Doomjuice in their computers.'
  

• Mydoom infects more than 1 million (Australian IT, 2004.02.02)
  The Mydoom internet worm has infected more than one million computers worldwide since it was first detected [7 days ago], making it the fastest spreading worm attack ever, a Finnish computer firm said.
  

• Anti-Virus Companies: Tenacious Spammers (Attrition.org, 2004.01.28)
  In the case of the latest worm, I and others have received more spam from Anti-Virus products than the worm itself! As you read this, Anti-Virus companies are responsible for products that are sending out more unwanted mail than the worm itself. The most damning mail from these products not only purport to 'warn you of infection,' but they go so far as to advertise the product to you. ... Their notions of customer interest are second to their bottom line and perceived dominance of the industry.
  

• Experts: Mydoom worm spreading faster than last year's Sobig-F (ComputerWorld, 2004.01.26)
  A new e-mail worm that first appeared on the Internet this afternoon is spreading rapidly, according to leading security companies. ... The worm will install a 'key logger' that can capture anything that is entered, including passwords and credit card numbers...
  

• Spammers' Scavenging E-Mail Virus Surfaces on Net (Yahoo!, 2004.01.19)
  A new computer virus capable of harvesting millions of e-mail addresses from infected PCs was rapidly spreading across the Internet... [It] also contains code that could turn an infected computer into a veritable 'spamming' machine.
  

• Seeds of destruction: Agriculture epidemics may hold clues to Net viruses (C|Net News.com, 2004.01.15)
  In studying the effects of last summer's MSBlast worm, some security experts turned to an unlikely source in search of clues to the prevention of computer epidemics: plants. ... Like Dutch Elm [Disease], MSBlast was a single foreign entity that infected extremely susceptible hosts of an entire population--in this case, of Windows computers.
  

• New Worm Spreads Via MSN Messenger (eWeek, 2003.12.31)
  Once the file runs, the worm begins sending out copies of itself to all of the names in the user's Messenger contact list.
  

• Flaw could unleash another Slammer (ZDNet, 2003.12.09)
  [An] attacker could use a recently patched Microsoft flaw to create a fast-moving worm similar to SQL Slammer, which spread rapidly across the Internet a year ago. ... [Hackers] could actually create a worm that spreads faster than the SQL Slammer worm did last year.
  

• Experts Worried After Worm Hits Windows-Based ATMs (Reuters, 2003.12.08)
  Automatic teller machines at two banks running Microsoft's popular Windows software were infected by a computer virus in August... Computer security experts predicted more problems to come as Windows migrates to critical systems consumers rely on.
  

• Nachi worm infected Diebold ATMs (The Register, 2003.11.25)
  [A Windows worm] compromised Windows-based automated teller machines at two financial institutions last August... [The ATMs were] built atop Windows XP Embedded...
  

• Virus Knocks Out U.S. Visa Approval System (Slashdot.org, 2003.09.24)
  [T]he State Department's electronic system for checking every visa applicant for terrorist or criminal history failed worldwide late Tuesday because of a computer virus, leaving the U.S. government unable to issue visas... [It was warned] that the Welchia virus had been detected in one facility. Welchia is an aggressive infection unleashed last month that exploits a software flaw in recent versions of Microsoft Windows.
  

• Swen Worm Infects Over 1.5 Million Computers (TechNewsWorld, 2003.09.19)
  Swen represents a high level of sophistication in its ability to execute code automatically, its deceptive spoof of Microsoft correspondence and its randomization of information that would be used to identify it easily [by anti-virus software]. ... [T]he worm infects via e-mail or network sharing automatically...
  

• New web worm warning (BBC News, 2003.09.18)
  [V]iruses that take advantage of new found flaws in the chunk of computer code exploited by MSBlast look set to arrive even sooner. Security experts say malicious hackers and virus writers are already swapping computer code designed to slip through the new vulnerabilities.
  

• Virus Masquerading as Microsoft E-Mail (eWeek, 2003.09.18)
  A new mass-mailing virus is on the loose on the Internet, this one masquerading as a message from Microsoft Corp. about a cumulative security patch. ... It takes advantage of a two-year-old flaw in Microsoft Outlook and is capable of automatically executing the infected attachment once the message [itself, not the file!] is opened.
  

• Universities Rush to Protect Networks (Washington Post, 2003.09.04)
  George Mason University administrators, anxious to protect the school's computer network from a raft of viruses and worms plaguing the Internet, today unplugged thousands of students from the network. ... [they] cut Internet access for all 3,600 students living on campus.
  

• A Virus (Personal web log, 2003.09.03)
  [The] file appears to be an exploit directed at IE 5 (and possibly 6) and Outlook Express (which uses an integrated IE component for displaying e-mail). This exploit appears to allow the exploiter to execute arbitrary code ... on the exploited machine.
  

• SoBig worm not slowing down yet (CNN Money, 2003.08.21)
  Businesses and other computer users haven't seen the worst of the SoBig worm, which may have caused an estimated $50 million in damage already... ...even when SoBig is vanquished, the worm's success in causing problems means the spam attack mechanism is likely to be seen again.
  

• Sobig [...] Experts say the E-mail-borne virus is showing the ability to update itself (InformationWeek, 2003.08.20)
  [S]ecurity experts discovered Wednesday that the malicious program also had the ability to update itself. ... Sobig is unusual in that it has the ability to go onto the Internet from its host PC and update itself with new capabilities [including] tools for denial-of-service attacks or relaying spam... the bigger danger lies in its ability to open a port in a computer, enabling a hacker to upload a Trojan. The small application can let a hacker take control of a computer or search for passwords in the system to break into people's online accounts.
  

• Computer Virus Strikes CSX Transportation Computers (CSX Corporation, 2003.08.20)
  CSX Transportation's information technology systems experienced significant slowdowns early today after a computer virus infected the network. The cause was believed to be a worm virus similar to those that have infected the [Microsoft Windows based] systems of other major companies and agencies in recent days. ... As a result, passenger and freight train traffic was halted immediately...
  

• Big bank suffers Windows ATM crash (The Inquirer, 2003.08.20)
  One of the big five banks in the UK could not let customers withdraw money today because a Microsoft Windows problem crashed the [ATM system].
  

• Slammer worm crashed Ohio nuke plant network (SecurityFocus, 2003.08.19)
  The Slammer worm penetrated a private computer network at Ohio's Davis-Besse nuclear power plant in January and disabled a safety monitoring system for nearly five hours, despite a belief by plant personnel that the network was protected by a firewall... According to the reports, plant computer engineers hadn't installed the patch for the MS-SQL vulnerability that Slammer exploited. In fact, they didn't know there was a patch, which Microsoft released six months before Slammer struck.
  

• New fast-spreading Sobig worm adds to 'Worm Week' (Forbes, 2003.08.19)
  A new mass e-mail worm that attempts to download files from the Internet and potentially leave computers vulnerable to further attack was spreading quickly around the world... [It] is at least the fourth new, major Internet worm to hit computers worldwide in the past week, prompting anti-virus vendor F-Secure to declare this the 'worst virus week ever.' ... Sobig.F was spreading at an 'alarming rate,' accounting for nearly 80 percent of all infection reports recorded Tuesday... In addition, an e-mail hoax was circulating, purporting to be a patch from Microsoft for the security hole Blaster exploits. But the e-mail instead contains a Trojan application that installs itself on the computer as a back door enabling an attacker remote access to the system.
  

• Sobig.F Slams the Enterprise (ENT News, 2003.08.19)
  Symantec upgraded the worm to a category 3 on its threat scale on Tuesday, due to the number of reports. ... Once a user clicks on the attachment, the worm begins searching for e-mail addresses and network shares to spread itself to and in some cases can download trojans or other files to begin stealing information from systems.
  

• Windows Update flaw 'left PCs open' to MSBlast (ZDNet UK, 2003.08.15)
  A flaw in Windows Update caused some organisations - including the US Army - to wrongly believe they were protected from MSBlast... 'If you go to Microsoft's site and say, 'tell me if I am up to date', and it says 'you are up to date', but you are not, what are you supposed to do?'...
  

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