New IM Worm Installs Own Web Browser 479
Aquafinality writes "A new IM worm discovered recently takes the novel step of installing its own web browser onto the victims PC. Ironically titled "The Safety Browser", its default settings actually make your PC less secure - switching on pop-ups, changing your home page and hijacking your desktop with a looped music track that plays every time you switch your computer on.
It's clear people cannot resist clicking "yes" to anything they're presented with via IM - with this in mind, what on Earth can we do so stop the spread of garbage like the above? To put it another way, will reducing the amount of potential "suckers" out there dissuade the bad guys from coming up with ever-more elaborate ideas such as this latest scam? Or is IM safety a lost cause?"
It seems there's only one thing we can do. (Score:5, Funny)
Awww (Score:2, Funny)
Why can't this run on Linux?
Geeks want to know (Score:5, Funny)
does the browser pass the Acid2 test?
Re:It seems there's only one thing we can do. (Score:3, Funny)
Isn't gonna happen. (Score:5, Funny)
When you try to make everything idiot-proof, you just raise the quality of the remaining idiots.
Re:IM safety? (Score:4, Funny)
My quarter to two in the morning idea (Score:5, Funny)
Give out odd numbered IP addresses to Linux users, and even numbered addresses to Windows Users.
Then Linux computers just turn off access from even numbered source addresses.
Problem solved.
Ok - time for bed.
The browser it installs is.... (Score:5, Funny)
Do the Safety Browse (Score:5, Funny)
we can leave your friends behind
Cause your friends dont browse and if they dont browse
Well theyre are no friends of mine
I say, we can browse where we want to,
catch a virus we will never find
And we can act like we come from out of this OS
Leave the real one far behind,
Well... (Score:5, Funny)
Clearly there isn't enough evolutionary pressure on the heard. What the good guys need to do is build computers that explode when the user does something stupid.
-Grey [wellingtongrey.net]
Call me a glutton for punishment (Score:5, Funny)
Does anyone have a link to the really bad music this worm subjects its victims to? Hearing it would seriously enhance my sense of schadenfreude...
--JoeYes (Score:1, Funny)
It's clear people cannot resist clicking "yes" to anything they're presented with via IM - with this in mind, what on Earth can we do so stop the spread of garbage like the above? To put it another way, will reducing the amount of potential "suckers" out there dissuade the bad guys from coming up with ever-more elaborate ideas such as this latest scam? Or is IM safety a lost cause?
"Yes"
"Yes" "Yes" "Yes" "Yes"
Why isn't this working?
"Yes" "Yes"...
...
I give up.
The solution.. (Score:3, Funny)
Unfortunately we can't do that yet, so the problem remains unsolveable.
I have a solution! (Score:3, Funny)
A slightly lower-tech implementation has worked for me. When my friends ask me to fix their computer for the 30 billionth time after they infected it, I smack them in the back of the head and tell them not to be a moron, and then send them on to pay the Geek Squad to deal with their problems.
Where these people used to be reinfecting themselves on a weekly basis, they seem to have stopped now, so a combination of physical and wallet pain seems to be the best motivation to not be a retard.
How to remove the worm (Score:3, Funny)
If you get infected, your IM might ask you if you want to get rid of a dangerous IM worm, just click yes and you'll be ok.
You also get very cheap C1ALi5, dunno what is it, but it seems like a great deal, so I ordered a bunch.
Re:It seems there's only one thing we can do. (Score:2, Funny)