Virus - Hoax or Real

[mechplas]

> > WORST VIRUS EVER ---CNN ANNOUNCED
> > PLEASE SEND THIS TO EVERYONE ON YOUR CONTACT
> LIST!!
> >
> > A new virus has just been discovered that has been
> classified by Microsoft as the most destructive
> ever. This virus was discovered yesterday afternoon
> by McAfee . This virus simply destroys Sector Zero
> from the hard disk, where vital information for its
> functioning are stored.
> >
> >
> > This virus acts in the following manner:
> > It sends itself automatically to all contacts on
> your list with the title:
> >
> > "A Card for You".
> >
> > As soon as the supposed virtual card is opened
> the computer freezes so that the user has to reboot.
> When the ctrl+alt+del keys or the reset button are
> pressed, the virus destroys Sector Zero, thus
> permanently destroying the hard disk. Yesterday in
> just a few hours this virus caused panic in New
> York, according to news broadcast by CNN.
> >
> > This alert was received by an employee of
> Microsoft itself.
> > So don't open any mails with subject: "A Virtual
> Card for You." As soon as you get the mail, delete
> it!! Even if you know the sender !!!

[Mathieu]

Its a hoax, http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/ven...d.for.you.html

Numerous variants in several languages of this hoax have been circulated. The Virtual Card for You is a hoax that should be ignored. Several examples of these hoaxes are as follows:

[yeow]

anyway be it hoax or real. the thumb of rule is, ignore any e mail from anyone u dont know, or u think it's suspicious?

for example, this friend long tiem never e mail u, then he suddenly e mail u with some silly wordings like " hello dude"
or " nice chick, gotto see"

as most of my friend use singlish, when an e mail with proper good english is send to me, i will suspect something is wrong.

=)

[kiratime]

well a hacker would be smart to use viruses that can control peoples computer to affect more computer then after that make money out of that
Im a NSI participant (NetworkSercurityInvestigator) Trust me we went through 2 days 6hrs each to learn how to hack a computer and retrieving data and even stripping ur computer bare!!!
well im not being boastful cause i dint pay attention cause these stuff were a little boring and because i dun wan to learn this then try this stuff for fun and get caught that sucks!! lols

[HotDogBun]

Manipulate computers is old tactics and a shallow way to gain current day objectives.
Control of computers are done on small scale and usually for personal gains, so as to have easy fast clean getaway learning little trace and harder to notice.
The hackers nowadays are not as shallow as to send out programs to gain control of other computers.
Matter of fact, they will get more rewards when they are able to bring down entire network, permanently, which will cause downturn of economy.

[CKS]

Em. ive been involved in computer security for 10+ years and i dont know anyone who would claim to have participated in any crash course 'hacking training'

Anyway, I would think that most paid hackers would be more interested in information thief than anything else nowadays.
Also nowadays they dont need to send the 'virus file attachment' to get enough victim infected (eg. reading this post is enough to get infected if someone were to embed something malicious here)

well a hacker would be smart to use viruses that can control peoples computer to affect more computer then after that make money out of that
Im a NSI participant (NetworkSercurityInvestigator) Trust me we went through 2 days 6hrs each to learn how to hack a computer and retrieving data and even stripping ur computer bare!!!
well im not being boastful cause i dint pay attention cause these stuff were a little boring and because i dun wan to learn this then try this stuff for fun and get caught that sucks!! lols

[HotDogBun]

CKS's words cannot be doubt when it comes to IT I guess

[Gt2C<Kudou>]

well a hacker would be smart to use viruses that can control peoples computer to affect more computer then after that make money out of that
Im a NSI participant (NetworkSercurityInvestigator) Trust me we went through 2 days 6hrs each to learn how to hack a computer and retrieving data and even stripping ur computer bare!!!
well im not being boastful cause i dint pay attention cause these stuff were a little boring and because i dun wan to learn this then try this stuff for fun and get caught that sucks!! lols

well i am in the same team as him but im more to the hardware and there is no such things that a virus can destroy a hardisk!!! except it gives the hardisk a hard electrical shock!!!

[Gt2C<Kudou>]

Em. ive been involved in computer security for 10+ years and i dont know anyone who would claim to have participated in any crash course 'hacking training'

Anyway, I would think that most paid hackers would be more interested in information thief than anything else nowadays.
Also nowadays they dont need to send the 'virus file attachment' to get enough victim infected (eg. reading this post is enough to get infected if someone were to embed something malicious here)

oww sadly there is its an event from our cca group which is supported by IDA

[HotDogBun]

CCA? Whats that? Wow IDA conducts such courses? Damn, I just started my AirCon servicing course at Simei ITE today

[CKS]

You guys are lucky then .. we had to dig around the internet to learn stuff .. its gd to catch the candidates with potential early and hopefully they'll go into this line in future.

oww sadly there is its an event from our cca group which is supported by IDA

[tucfaz]

Kiratime is right. Hackers work are basically to infiltrate personal computers all over the world, while being careful not to cause any damage to the PC. Which is the right thing for IDA to teach the younger generation how hackers operate..

Small time hackers will want to steal your identity to gain access to your bank account while risk getting caught. Big timers are into spamming which is a multi billion dollars industry, and these people who are on the FBI top wanted list actually employs hackers to write virus to infact PC to help them with their spamming activity.. where products sold are mostly medical products.. and some of these bosses who got caught have been put in prison for duration beyond 10 years.. worse then murder in some country..

professional hackers never want to down a network or server as these are valuable resources to them.. Only the small timer kiddy hackers does these things like defacing sites. crash servers etc..

Good hackers always covers their track, and some does it so well that they're operating right under you nose while you're updating your latest definition to your latest state of the art internet security suite..

Just some stuff I gathered from the Internet..

[HotDogBun]

Nice info Tufaz
I guess then what then the tactic all depends on what results desired.
I was thinking of something wild perhaps.
For example, A wants to ruin B. B will prepare. A will hinder B's level of defence by giving him problem to his budget and to shorten time he can fend off A. If B's company comes to a standstill because all the 500 pc which is heart of operation keeps reboot then the element of preparation is not there. A just need surprise element for the right time and he can buy over B's company.
LOL I was actually thinking in this wild direction.
Then again guess I belittle information security... Keke

[HotDogBun]

Ok since you IT Gizmos are here. Let me post some questions which I am curious about.
- Does our common homebased routers had RAM or buffer that capatures the current MAC or hostname that is connected and ask for IP add?
- If yes, how I do access these?

I got a nasty gut feel some joker cracked my router password and using it to DL his fav programmes or even porn
I too lazy to change password and if I hide my SSID my device is not able to log on as I can't seem to manually create a SSID.

Also, how I do derive the broadcast IP for a certain segment eg my router's IP?

Thanks.

[tucfaz]

I think you watch too much Angelina Jolie liao..

We've learn that some hackers just want to make a statement. Hence, these are usually not the bad bad people. ie, those in the Linux community will want to launch a DDOS attack on Microsoft network to let people know the weakness of MS.. But these are stupid moved lah.. Do already.. Nothing to gain.. Risk getting caught. MS sue until entire family bankrupt. hacker go to jail.. But some of these people just want fame I guess.

But having said that.. going to the extend of infiltrating a company with 500 computers is more expensive then just buying over the MIS Manager who can just walk out with whatever information company A need..

Nice info Tufaz
I guess then what then the tactic all depends on what results desired.
I was thinking of something wild perhaps.
For example, A wants to ruin B. B will prepare. A will hinder B's level of defence by giving him problem to his budget and to shorten time he can fend off A. If B's company comes to a standstill because all the 500 pc which is heart of operation keeps reboot then the element of preparation is not there. A just need surprise element for the right time and he can buy over B's company.
LOL I was actually thinking in this wild direction.
Then again guess I belittle information security... Keke