A scandalous video about you? Don't believe it

August 28, 2007

By MIKE WENDLAND

Convergence Editor and Technology Columnist

If you get an e-mail urging you to quickly click over and watch a scandalous video about you on YouTube... don't.

It's the latest dirty trick from a vicious group of hackers called the "Storm Botnet" aimed at getting access to your computer and then turning it into a remote-controlled zombie machine that can be used to send out spam or launch attacks on Websites and networks.

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Phony e-mails went out by the tens of thousands over the weekend with the message ttle "OMG, what are you thinking" or "You can see your face right in the video. its all over the web dude. take a look, lol."

The e-mails have a link that they claim is to a YouTube video. Instead, it leads to a hacker-run site that downloads the storm worm -- an application that attaches to the unsuspecting user's hard drive and then sends similar phony e-mails out to everybody on the user's contact list.

And on and on.

Security experts estimate that as many as a hundred thousand computers around the world have already been compromised by the storm world through various trick e-mails like the current YouTube ruse.

A couple of weeks ago a similar e-mail urged you to click to a link for an e-greeting card.

Experts think Storm Botnet is based out of Russia but so far have been unable to identify them, let alone shut them down.

Do we really have to say this again? Don't open anything or click any link unless you are sure where it's going, who sent it and what it is. And make sure, if you use a Windows PC, that your anti-spam software is up-to-date.

If you think you are infected, good luck. The storm worm can be a bugger to get rid of. Contact the company that makes your anti-virus software or take your machine in to a computer shop.

Or get a Mac. They don't get these viruses and worms.

is this a warning

or

an apple commercial

lol thats what i said... i cant help it i cant afford one of dem macs... just a heads up... some folks have clickon disorder - they click on anything they see.... so its mainly for them.

Yes but macs can pass them along sometimes if you fgorward an infected email. And there are also viruses out there that targets macs so you should still keep your anti-virus up to date.

hey i got one of those emails yesterday..didnt even click just deleted it.. and it got thur the spam guard too.. but GVR caught it and deleted it for me before i ever opened my email..

bigbay

Yes, a Mac commercial - and now a Linux commercial. Ubuntu users have less to fear from worms/viruses then Mac or Windows users.