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echo: filegate
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from: Andy Alt
date: 2004-09-30 06:44:00
subject: jpg virus

Hope anti-virus news isn't too off-topic here. I normally wouldn't post 
this here.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3701640.stm
Poison porn pics show up online

   List of Jpeg files, BBC
   Viewing jpegs could soon be a risky business

   The  first images crafted to contain a malicious program that can take
   control of a PC have been found on the net.

   Security  experts  have  been  expecting  such images to turn up after
   Microsoft  revealed  a weakness in the way Windows handles the popular
   Jpeg format.

   Soon  after  this discovery, a program started circulating online that
   was written to exploit this bug.

   The poisoned images were posted to a porn newsgroup at the weekend and
   were found by Usenet provider Easynews.

Early warning

   Poisoned  pictures  containing  the  bug  have  been  widely predicted
following  the  discovery  of  the  Jpeg bug that afflicts more than a
   dozen Microsoft programs.

   To  fall  victim  to  the  poisoned pictures, users must view it using
   Windows Explorer.

   VULNERABLE PROGRAMS

   Windows XP
   Windows XP Service Pack 1
   Windows Server 2003
   Internet Explorer 6 SP1
   Office XP SP3
   Office 2003
   Digital Image Pro 7.0
   Digital Image Pro 9
   Digital Image Suite 9
   Greetings 2002
   Picture It! 2002
   Picture It! 7.0
   Picture It! 9
Producer for PowerPoint
   Project 2002 SP1
   Project 2003
   Visio 2002 SP2
   Visio 2003
   Visual Studio .NET 2002
   Visual Studio .NET 2003

   Once  in  place,  the code then tells an infected machine to contact a
   server  on  the  web to download another program that lets it be taken
   over remotely by an attacker.

   The partner server that held the remote control code has now been shut
   down.

   Oliver  Friedrichs,  senior  manager  with Symantec Security Response,
   said that he expected future versions of the bug to strike when images
   are viewed with the Internet Explorer browser and Outlook.

   Microsoft  played  down  the threat from the images. In a statement it
   said  few  people  were likely to fall victim because of the series of
steps they had to go through to get infected.

   The  net watchdog, the Internet Storm Center, said the poisoned images
   only  crashed computers in tests, but added that working versions were
   probably close to being finished.

   It  also  said  that poisoned images were starting to circulate on AOL
   Instant Messenger.

   Security  firm  F-Secure  said that, so far, the few poisoned pictures
   posted on Usenet were not a virus because they do not replicate.

   "Unfortunately  I  have a nasty feeling we might sooner or later see a
   mass-mailer  worm  using  a Jpeg image as the attachment," wrote Mikko
   Hypponen in the company's online journal.

   Users  who  have updated their Windows XP machines with the SP2 update
   could  still  be  at  risk from this bug if they are running unpatched
   programs, such as Microsoft Office, that are vulnerable.

   Microsoft  is  urging  people  to  update their version of Windows and
download patches to close the loophole.

   Some  security  firms  have  also  produced  tools that let users scan
   computers to see which machines are vulnerable to the exploit.

   Anti-virus   firms  have  updated  their  software  to  recognise  the
   signature of the virus-bearing images.
 
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SOURCE: echomail via fidonet.ozzmosis.com

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