Viewing images on Windows got a lot more dangerous
Posted in Tech by Derek at 12:00 pm
This post was published 3 years 10 months 17 days ago and its content may not be valid anymore.Update your anti-virus / spyware / malware software, only visit “trusted” sites, and stop clicking on the porn thumbnails!
[...] computers can be infected simply by visiting one of the Web sites or viewing an infected image in an e-mail through the preview pane in older versions of Microsoft Outlook, even if users did not click on anything or open any files. Operating system versions ranging from the current Windows XP to Windows 98 are affected.
Sounds vaguely familiar to our post back in August: Steganography and Flickr. Hidden files embedded within image files? The latest onslaught does not require any sort of decompression. Be weary of sites that you rarely visit.
Serial / crack seekers be cautious while surfing your favorites.
This has crippled us at work, to solve we switched from Trend Micro Enterprise, to Panda Soft http://www.pandasoftware.com
Those home users who have ZoneAlarm, should prevent wmf and emf click here. If you don’t have ZoneAlarm security suite, you can’t beat their current $40 deal.
By the way ZoneAlarm also prevents the Sony/BMG rootkit from installing.
I agree with Roy on ZoneAlarm, however, his company’s choice in anti-virus leaves a bit to be desired in this techie’s mind…
See the following website for a comparo of AV programs against a virus collector’s batch of viruses:
http://www.virus.gr/english/fullxml/default.asp?id=69&mnu=69
(Note: The new Dec results should be up shortly…)