Scarecrow Man Posted November 12, 2004 Report Share Posted November 12, 2004 Antivirus firms are warning of a truly nasty phishing scheme filling inboxes in South America. Unlike the more familiar emails which attempt to trick people into filling out their bank log-in information on a scammer's site, this new virus doesn't require the victim to so much as open the email.If the targeted computer has not been updated with security patches, the virus will exploit an ActiveX control to run a script. The script will rewrite the computer's HOSTS file, causing all connections to certain Brazilian banks to be redirected to the scammer's site. Unfortunately, since Outlook and Outlook Express enable the preview pane by default, all you have to do is click the email for it to launch the script. You don't even have to open it. Just attempting to delete the email may cause it to be activated.It probably won't be long before this virus begins to target European and North American banks. I strongly advise disabling the preview pane in your email program as well as having it use the restricted zone settings.An alternative would be to switch to a different email program altogether. I have been using Thunderbird for a long time and I love it. It has its quirks and annoyances but I prefer it to Outlook Express. It has the best spam filter I have ever seen.If you cannot switch to another program, a filtering program such as Benign might be the answer. Filtered through Benign, this virus and others like it would be unable to execute.Most importantly, make sure you have installed every available security update for your computer.Source Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andsome Posted November 12, 2004 Report Share Posted November 12, 2004 Surely a program like Mailwasher will also help? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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