* subscribe at http://techPolice.com Password-stealing virus hits AOL Year-old bug making the rounds again, McAfee says MSNBC STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS Feb. 1 —2001 An antivirus company says an old America Online password-stealing virus has recently gotten new life, and it issued a warning Thursday to AOL users. The bug arrives with the subject line “hey you” and an attachment named “mine.zip.” McAfee.com reports a “significant increase” in infected computers during the past 30 days — so it upped the risk rating on the bug to medium. No other antivirus firm had issued a warning about the so-called “APStrojan.” He said it’s a known trojan and has been around for about a year. “Our top priority is to protect our users and we do that by educating them about how to keep them secure from trojans and viruses.” AOL said it was not taking any extraordinary precautionary measures. While variants of the virus have been circulating for nearly a year, McAfee.com said it has recently noticed an increase in infected computers by users who are scanning their personal computers at the McAfee.com site. According to McAfee.com’s Web site, about 183,000 files have been found to be infected with the bug in the past 30 days. When the virus arrives, the message body reads, “hey i finally got my pics scanned...theres like 5 or 6 of them...so just download it and unzip it..and for you people who dont know how to then scroll down...tell me what you think of my pics ok?” There roughly 30 variants of the APStrojan, according to McAfee. The strain that is currently making the rounds spreads through AOL e-mail and infects files on users’ systems while attempting to collect and steal AOL v4.0 and v5.0 account numbers and passwords. It then forwards the information to an e-mail address that likely belongs to the trojan’s author. The bug then attempts to replicate itself to all AOL screen names listed in the infected user’s “Buddy List.” Reuters contributed to this story. /=-=-=-=-Click Here & Support Our Sponsor-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=\ Buy Shoes Online at Zappos.com: 1. Fast, Reliable Site 2. Devoted Customer Service 3. Great Shoe Selection 4. Price, Fit, and Satisfaction Guaranteed. http://click.topica.com/aaabe7b1dhr0b1uN1Ic/Zappos \=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=/ --via http://techPolice.com archive: http://theMezz.com/cybercrime/archive unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] url: http://theMezz.com/alerts ____________________________________________________________ T O P I C A -- Learn More. Surf Less. Newsletters, Tips and Discussions on Topics You Choose. http://www.topica.com/partner/tag01
