Victoria's Secret Spyware

tactical nukes ^ | August 6, 2006 | nuke slywalker

[grandpa jones]

Experts at SophosLabs™, Sophos's global network of virus, spyware and spam analysis centers, have reminded internet users to be on their guard following the discovery of a spyware Trojan horse that displays pictures of a potential Russian love match while secretly stealing information.

When first run on a user's computer, the Troj/Keylog-HD Trojan horse displays a slideshow of 3 photographs of a young woman called "Victoria Stasova". Accompanying the photographs is a love heart and an AOL email address.

However, while the pictures are being displayed, the malware steals keypresses and information from the infected user's PC which could allow hackers to plunder bank accounts and commit identity theft.

[grandpa jones]

Yep, I would have clicked on those photos, too.

[jdm]

"When first run on a user's computer, the Troj/Keylog-HD Trojan horse displays a slideshow of 3 photographs of a young woman called "Victoria Stasova".

Hmmmmmmmm.... A girl who can infect you in more ways than one. I've waited almost 15 years for this!

[backhoe]

As me sainted Mother used to tell me when I was little, "Don't you dare put that in your mouth- you don't know where it's been!"

---

My general-purpose malware file:

These are some recommendations that will significantly decrease the chances that you will have problems with malware in the future:

1) Regularly go to http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com and download all the "critical updates" for Windows, including the latest version of Internet Explorer. This can patch many of the security holes through which attackers can gain access to your computer. You should also turn on the Windows automatic update feature.

2) In order to protect yourself against spyware, you should consider installing and running the following free programs:

Ad-Aware SE
A tutorial on using Ad-Aware to remove spyware from your computer may be found here.

Spybot-Search & Destroy
A tutorial on using Spybot to remove spyware from your computer may be found here. Please also remember to enable Spybot's "Immunize" and "TeaTimer" features.

Microsoft Anti-Spyware

SpywareBlaster
A tutorial on using SpywareBlaster to prevent spyware from ever installing on your computer may be found here.

SpywareGuard
A tutorial on using SpywareGuard for realtime protection against spyware and hijackers may be found here.

Keeping these programs up-to-date and running them regularly can prevent a great deal of spyware hassle.

3) Please consider using an alternate browser. Mozilla's Firefox browser is fantastic; it is much more secure than Internet Explorer, immune to almost all known browser hijackers, and also has the best built-in popup blocker (as an added benefit!) that I have ever seen. If you are interested, Firefox may be downloaded from here:
http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/

4) Also make sure to run your antivirus software regularly, and to keep it up-to-date.

5) Finally, consider maintaining a firewall. A good free firewall is ZoneAlarm.
A tutorial on understanding and using firewalls may be found here.

Please also read Tony Klein's excellent article: So how did I get infected in the first place?

 

Things you need(all FREE)
AVG, Avira OR Avast are good FREE antivirus.
Never install more than one antivirusscanner or firewall on your system! Several together can give problems and decrease the reliability of it seriously! And I do suggest you perform an online virusscan once in a while. (Housecall and/or Bitdefender). Because what one virusscanner can't find another one maybe can.
Agnitum Outpost Free OR Kerio are FREE firewalls.

Misc.
IE Spyads SpywareBlaster Spyware Guard
Windows Update
get all CRITICAL Updates

Things you want(Still Free)
Mozillia Firefox
Google Toolbar (stops pop-ups)
Ad-Aware
Spybot S&D
MS MVP Hosts file

 

Run a hardware firewall-- with today's LAN's, it's easy. You need a hardware firewall.