[TheForge] bin Laden Virus

[Mike Linn]

This is from CNN.


Virus purporting bin Laden suicide hits Web



Virus designed to lure readers into opening a file

Saturday, July 24, 2004 Posted: 2:00 PM EDT (1800 GMT)

SEATTLE, Washington (Reuters) -- A virus purporting to show images of Osama 
bin Laden's suicide popped up on the Internet Friday, designed to entice 
recipients to open a file that unleashes malicious software code, security 
experts said.

The virus was attached to a message that was posted on over 30,000 usenet 
newsgroups and is not being spread via e-mail, said Web security vendor Sophos.

The U.S. government has been hunting for bin Laden since 2001, holding him 
responsible for masterminding the attacks on the World Trade Center and 
Pentagon on September 11, 2001, but he has not yet been found.

Chris Kraft, senior security analyst at Sophos, said the message and virus 
was designed to lure unsuspecting readers into opening a file, similar to 
the Anna Kournikova virus that enticed readers to open a file that 
unleashed malicious software code.

"If you don't know the person or the origin of a message, you shouldn't be 
opening it," Kraft said.

The fake bin Laden suicide file, when opened, unleashes a program called a 
Trojan horse that makes it possible for attackers to take over infected 
personal computers running Microsoft Corp.'s Windows operating system.

Kraft said the virus itself had already appeared on the Internet before, 
but the virus writer had apparently repackaged it by saying it contained 
bin Laden's suicide photos.




            Mike Linn
      Artist Blacksmith
          McCalla, AL
        AFC Webmaster
http://afc.abana-chapter.com

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