Gizmodo Australia » virus

Naked Erin Andrews Video May Be Trojan Horse For Mac And PC

Jesus Diaz — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 03:00:00 +0000

If you are hunting down Erin Andrews’ naked peephole video and you are a dummy, beware: It may be a trick to get you to install a trojan horse, disguised as a video player.

The bad guys have released a file that requires you to install a custom video player, which is in fact a Mal/EncPk-IF malware—for PCs—or a OSX/Jahlav-C trojan horse—for Macs. Then again, if you believe that any video file requires a custom video player, you probably should get this and many other viruses. And some nasty bacteria too.

In case you are not a sports follower—like me—or don’t know who the hell Erin Andrews is—like me—or don’t find her sexy at all—like me—here’s a CBS program talking about it:

[PPC World]

Desktop-Collapsing Mac ‘Virus’ Now Available for Download

John Herrman — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 09:24:38 +0000

One year ago, the Newton “Virus” for OS X dismantled Mac users’ desktops on video, subjecting icons and menu bars alike to the merciless force of gravity. Now, finally, you can download your own copy of this erstwhile art project.

Well, more accurately, buy: the Newton Virus—which, for those of you who still aren’t sure, is harmless—is $US5 as a screensaver, $US7 as a USB app, as seen in the video, and $US10 for the pair. Whether or not that’s worth it is up to you, but I think it’ll be popular: with Mac users, because the app is undeniably cool; with Windows fanboys, just because it puts the terms “Mac” and “virus” in the same sentence. [Troika via Geek and Hype—Thanks, Joffrey!]

Wall-E Has Nothing on Mech Virus

Adrian Covert — Sun, 31 May 2009 00:45:00 +0000

Sure, Wall-E is all cute and adorable, but does he spew melted floppy disks? No. This is why I, in my humble opinion, think that Mech Virus is way cooler than Wall-E could ever hope to be.

The actual tech behind Mech Virus, on display at Maker Faire 2009, is pretty simple, it’s just a motor and a power supply that allows Mech Virus to waddle and spit out a Norton Anti-Virus CD every 30 seconds or so. The actual motherboard components don’t work at all, making Mech Virus more about appearance, and less about action. But still I love it. [Maker Faire 2009]

The Conficker Virus Scams You $US50 To Remove It

Erica Ho — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 21:37:57 +0000

Kaspersky Labs discovered that Conficker is charging users $US49.95 in order to “remove” the virus from your system. Is it part of a larger business model where the makers intend to profit?

Since it showed up in November 2008, there have been variants of the virus released. Conficker has begun updating itself, which has been dubbed Conficker.e. Conficker.e is installing Waledac, a spam bot. In turn, it’ll spam you to remove it for a certain price. The original Conficker virus was supposed to activate on April 1 with the potential of infected Windows computers everywhere doing its bidding. Instead, it lay dormant. Not all Conficker nodes have been acting the same, so what’s really going on? [PC World]

CONFICKER IS NOT HAPPENING. IGNORE CONFICKER.

John Herrman — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 13:23:45 +0000

CONFICKER IS NOT HAPPENING. IGNORE CONFICKER.

CONFICKER IS NOT HAPPENING. IGNORE CONFICKER

>CONFICKER IS NOT HAPPENING. IGNORE CONFICKER

CONFICKER IS NOT HAPPENING. IGNORE CONFICKER

Do You Think Mac OS X Needs Anti-Virus Software?

Jesus Diaz — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 21:20:00 +0000

As you probably know, the BBC and a bunch of publications pounced over a “new” Tech Support Note recommending the use of anti-virus software, accusing Apple of “quietly” changing their tune about the Mac being virus-proof. We discovered this was false. Then Apple removed the notes, saying they were obsolete because Mac OS X is designed with built-in protection. Certainly, Mac OS X’s architecture and their out-of-the-box security policies make their OS safer than Windows. Or does it? Despite the technical arguments, do you think Mac OS X needs anti-virus software?

Giz Explains: Why OS X Shrugs Off Viruses Off Better Than Windows

Matt Buchanan — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 18:00:00 +0000

Mac OS X, mythically immune to common computer plagues, has actually always welcomed antivirus software. Or, uh, maybe not. Confused? No worries—here’s how OS X and Windows differ on resisting viruses and other nasties.

Big Screen Virus Alert Is Worse Than a Big Screen BSoD

Jason Chen — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 17:30:30 +0000

Reader David sends in this outdoor virus alert on the busiest street in Montreal, Canada. Could this be the start of a new FAIL trend?

BSoDs, yeah, those are harder to catch unless you make sure your signage app is bug-free and memory-leak free. Virus alerts, on the other hand, are another story. Seriously, virus alerts? You shouldn’t be using this machine for anything else besides displaying this banner, so where the hell did the virus come from? Either the machine’s already been infected (a big possibility) or somebody’s going to broadcast his Gmail login for prospective customers of Restaurant Basha. [Thanks David!]

The Pentagon Bans USB Flash Drives: Will There Be a Floppy Disk Comeback?

Gizmodo US Edition — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 20:30:00 +0000

AP reports that the Department of Defence has, at least for the time being, banned USB flash drives and is collecting all Pentagon-owned drives from the entire department. The Pentagon hasn’t issued an official statement, but a spokesman did say that they are dealing with a “global virus” that affects such external storage. Apparently, Department of Defence lackeys are being told that they may not get their drives back, and no information has been given regarding the length of the ban. A list of items now banned from the Pentagon after the jump.

- Beer-filled USB flash drives
– Fetus USB flash drives
– Sawed-off USB flash drives
– Carabiner USB flash drives
– USB flash drives shaped like obsolete equipment
– Food-shaped USB flash drives
– Arty meta-storage USB flash drives [AP]

Priest Infects Church Network Surfing the Web for Porn

Jesus Diaz — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 02:45:00 +0000

A priest has resigned from his parish after being caught viewing web porn in his computer at work. While I’m sure God doesn’t give a damn about porn–no matter how close it is to heaven–or the weaknesses of this priest, the church’s IT staff and the archbishop weren’t so amused when they discovered that his porn surfing antics had infected all the computers parish network.

The parish padre, from the town of Strängnas, Sweden–my favourite country in the world–admitted his actions, saying that it was true he spent “a lot of time at work viewing pornographic websites” and he wished his lust would have remained between himself and God instead of infecting the computers with this “lethal computer virus”. Well, Mr. Svenssonjohanssoncommandersson, seriously, don’t flagellate yourself over a computer virus. This kind of things happens to the best, although archbishop Anders Wejryd is not so understanding as we are:

Priests are people too, but I have no understanding at all for someone sitting and surfing for porn on the parish computers.

Well, archbishop, better watching porn than touching little kids like some of your colleagues elsewhere in the world, that’s for sure. Apparently, however, some definitive action was needed with the the Strängnas priest after another pastor in my beloved Göteborg “came under scrutiny for moistening post-it notes with his penis and sticking them up in an office.” Inexplicably, this one was allowed to keep his job.

And yes, we need video of that. [The Register]