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Google Accidentally Sends Out Kama Sutra Worm ( Google Apologizes )
IDG News Service ^ | November 08-10, 2006 | Robert McMillan

Posted on 11/10/2006 9:51:57 PM PST by fight_truth_decay

Google Apologizes in an Update: (Nov. 10,2006)

Staffers mistakenly e-mail the virus to subscribers of the Video Blog mailing list.

Google accidentally sent out e-mail containing a mass mailing worm to about 50,000 members of an e-mail discussion list focused on its Google Video Blog, the company said Tuesday.

"On Tuesday evening, three posts were made to the Google Video Blog-group that should not have been posted," Google said in a statement, posted late Tuesday night.

"Some of these posts may have contained a virus called W32/Kapser.A@mm -- a mass mailing worm. If you think you have downloaded this virus from the group or an e-mail message, we recommend you run your antivirus program to remove it," said the statement, which was attributed to the Google Video Team.

Malicious E-Mail

W32/Kasper.A@mm is better known as the Kama Sutra worm. Discovered in January of this year, it deletes files and registry keys on affected systems. It is blocked by most antivirus software.

Google uses its Video Blog group to let subscribers know when "interesting and fun" videos have been highlighted on the Google Video Blog. E-mail to the group's mailing list are posted by a handful of Google employees, called Google Video Team.

This team was responsible for sending out the malicious e-mail Tuesday night, said Gabriel Stricker, a Google spokesman.

Lesson Learned

Stricker did not have any more details on how Google ended up distributing the worm code, but he said that internal protocols are now in place to prevent this from happening again.

Google has seen a growing number of technical glitches lately, something observers are attributing to the company's break-neck growth over the past few years. One month ago, hackers found a way to publish a fake post on Google's official blog. The company also experienced service disruptions with its Blogger service recently that have left some users fuming.

Still, Google isn't the only company to accidentally distribute malware on a mailing list, according to Graham Cluley, a senior technology consultant with security vendor Sophos. "Even mailing lists run by security firms have sometimes accidentally had malware posted to them," he said in an e-mail interview. "But everyone can learn a lesson."


TOPICS: Business/Economy; News/Current Events; Technical
KEYWORDS: google; kamasutra; phishing; worm
In 2005, scammers faked the Google search page itself in order to aid the spread of a worm.

Recently, a Trojan attacked the company’s AdSense advertisements, replacing them, in-browser, with fake ones on any PC infected with the malware.

Phishing
Although the recently released Internet Explorer 7 and Firefox 2.0 browsers came with new antiphishing features, Microsoft and Mozilla are still playing catch-up with the crooks.

"It's still too early to know how effective [these new antiphishing features] are, but certainly that technology is a couple of years too late," Avivah Litan (Gartner research firm) said.

Phishing filters are not working because attackers are moving around their phishing Web sites and making it very difficult for antiphishing tools to tell the difference between a computer that is malicious and one that is simply unknown, she said.

A year ago, the average lifespan of a phisher's Web site was one week. Now it's just a few hours. "In the next year or two it will probably be one server per e-mail," Litan said. "They're impossible to catch and take down."

A Failure to Communicate
Antiphishing expert Paul Laudanski agrees that these attacks are on the rise. Part of the problem, he says, is the fact that Internet service providers and the companies being spoofed by phishers are not doing all they could to share information and track down the criminals.

Often companies are reluctant to share information for fear that it may lead to lawsuits, said Laudanski, owner of Computer Cops and the leader of the Phishing Incident Reporting and Termination squad project.

Experts say phishing attacks continue to rise, getting more costly

1 posted on 11/10/2006 9:51:59 PM PST by fight_truth_decay
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To: fight_truth_decay

By clicking on this thread, you may be exposed to the worm.


2 posted on 11/10/2006 9:57:45 PM PST by umgud (I love NASCAR as much as the Democrats hate Bush)
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To: ShadowAce

oops!


3 posted on 11/10/2006 9:59:25 PM PST by KoRn
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To: umgud
Now.. let's not scare the FReeps! :(

Googles stock has been at a record high. The bullish outlook has convinced most analysts that Google's stock price will break $500 fairly soon.

Despite the lofty price, Google seems unlikely to split its stock to make it more affordable to the masses. The question of a possible stock split has come up at both of Google's annual shareholder meetings and company co-founder Sergey Brin has pooh-poohed the idea on both occasions

Of recent, Google acknowledged it could face more copyright suits once the YouTube deal closes. Google shares gained $2.43 Wednesday (06.08) on the Nasdaq to close at $475.

4 posted on 11/10/2006 10:09:40 PM PST by fight_truth_decay
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To: fight_truth_decay

I'd buy if it split.


5 posted on 11/10/2006 10:11:10 PM PST by umgud (I love NASCAR as much as the Democrats hate Bush)
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To: umgud

Why wait? It'd be the SAME price....


6 posted on 11/10/2006 10:12:59 PM PST by goodnesswins (I think the real problem is islamo-bombia! (Rummyfan))
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To: goodnesswins
The worm, which also goes by the names Blackworm, Blackmal, and Nyxem, has been spreading since January 16 offering a look: 'Hey look at these pictures with naked people'(from Aunt Alice).

"This worm has spread to a lot of military addresses on the Internet (.mil), but mostly to ISPs (Internet Service Providers), meaning most of those infected are probably home users", reported CNN back in February.

7 posted on 11/10/2006 10:21:02 PM PST by fight_truth_decay
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To: goodnesswins

"Why wait? It'd be the SAME price...."

Not exactly... per share price goes down. Total value remains the same.


8 posted on 11/10/2006 10:22:39 PM PST by Syntyr (Food for the NSA Line Eater -> "terrorist" "bomb" "plot" "kill" "overthrow")
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The newly designed Clinton Hotel & Spa, Washington Ave.
in South Beach offeres a mini bar with Kama Sutra products :Lover’s Chocolate Body Paint, which comes in three flavors: Milk Chocolate, White Chocolate, and Dark Chocolate and a soft paintbrush to inspire creativity.

Just a little Clinton side-bar..........

9 posted on 11/10/2006 10:34:56 PM PST by fight_truth_decay
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To: Blue Highway
"On Tuesday evening, three posts were made to the Google Video Blog-group that should not have been posted," Google said in a statement, posted late Tuesday night.

"Some of these posts may have contained a virus called W32/Kapser.A@mm -- a mass mailing worm. If you think you have downloaded this virus from the group or an e-mail message, we recommend you run your antivirus program to remove it," said the statement, which was attributed to the Google Video Team.

I like that Alta Vista toolbar.

10 posted on 11/10/2006 10:57:46 PM PST by perfect stranger (Tagline tomorrow, tagline yesterday, but no tagline today.)
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To: umgud

Has anyone heard of the Wikipedia Virus? Has anyone here ever heard that visiting Wikipedia may expose computers to viruses embedded in images?


11 posted on 11/11/2006 1:55:51 AM PST by IsraelBeach
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bookmark


12 posted on 11/11/2006 2:22:12 AM PST by AmeriBrit (Soros and Clinton's for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington = SCREW.)
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To: Syntyr

EXACTLY....you have the same amount of TOTAL $$


13 posted on 11/11/2006 4:32:05 PM PST by goodnesswins (I think the real problem is islamo-bombia! (Rummyfan))
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To: fight_truth_decay
Kama Sutra sculptures circa 1964



They were "bagged" for the trial. Vorpal Galleries, San Francisco.


14 posted on 02/22/2007 3:45:48 PM PST by Syncro
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