Cpl Ledanek 247 Posted May 4, 2004 Share Posted May 4, 2004 I was using PC at work when I got a pop up message saying PC was infected by Sasser worm. Not sure which kind (accordng to NAV there are more than one kind) I figure I let the IT guy at work handle that. But the time I was using it, I had my USB portable storage (lexar) connected to the PC. Should I be concerned? I got WinXP PRO on a 28.8 dial-up. I only open my hotmail e-mail at work. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Rocky 1,224 Posted May 4, 2004 Share Posted May 4, 2004 *runs off to do a windows update* Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Rocky 1,224 Posted May 4, 2004 Share Posted May 4, 2004 LOL, this is on the windows update page! How to Protect Yourself from the Sasser Worm and Other Attacks If your computer is running one of the following, you can help protect it from the Sasser Worm and its variants by installing the appropriate update below: For Microsoft® Windows® 2000 Service Pack 2 or greater - "Security Update for Windows 2000 (KB835732)" For Microsoft Windows XP - "Security Update for Windows XP (KB835732)" When you click Scan for updates, Windows Update will determine whether you need this security update; if needed, the update will appear on the Critical Updates and Service Packs page. To find out how to help protect your computer against the Sasser worm, or remove it if you think your computer may already be infected, please click on the Read more link. We also recommend that you check Windows Update regularly for new critical updates and security patches. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Matt03 0 Posted May 5, 2004 Share Posted May 5, 2004 I got it the other day. It is a good thing that windows update keep track of progress while downloading. Or else I wouldn't have been able to download it. got shutdown every few minutes and being on 56k it was a long day. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Super-Bob 0 Posted May 5, 2004 Share Posted May 5, 2004 I updated weeks ago. Why is it that people don't seem to care until their computer is actually infected? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Crimson 0 Posted May 5, 2004 Share Posted May 5, 2004 Why is it that people don't seem to care until their computer is actually infected? Because their computer isnt infected. I hardly do any updating, maybe a couple times a year. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Matt03 0 Posted May 5, 2004 Share Posted May 5, 2004 Maybe it is because you don't hear about the stuff until it starts infecting a lot of computers or until it infects yours. And with a 56k connection I don't have time to update every month. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
CR6 0 Posted May 5, 2004 Share Posted May 5, 2004 Since the MSblaster worm, I have been recommending to all my friends to keep the Windows Update on automatic. Everyone "should" have got the patch to stop the Sasser worm 2-3 weeks ago. There have been tons of systems around the world affected by Sasser, unfortunately a lot of government ones etc. Wonder what they pay their system admins to do? I remember setting up a system for a friend when the MSblaster worm was around. His WinXP system got infected in less than 10 seconds after he plugged in the ethernet cable for his DSL, not enough time to run Win update! Can anyone here can guess how we solved this problem? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Matt03 0 Posted May 5, 2004 Share Posted May 5, 2004 I had to have my sister's friend's boyfriend to give me a boot disk to get rid of that thing. But I guess I may have been able to do it like I did the sassey worm. But I doubt it since that one seemed to kick me off quicker than the sassey virus. I know I spelled that wrong. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ryan243 0 Posted May 5, 2004 Share Posted May 5, 2004 (edited) And with a 56k connection I don't have time to update every month.Ditto. I've never downloaded an update. I'm too impatient. I just back up my files often and hope I don't get a virus. But I'm not actually very worried. - I don't get many emails at all; 10-15 a day, usually all junk. Every once in a while I get an email from a company I do business with or (even more rarely) a person I know. Other than those all my email gets deleted unread. - I almost never have to deal with attachments. (I can remember two times ever.) - I don't download much of anything from home. All I do is look at websites. I know I could still get an infection that way, but the odds are on my side. As long as the odds are that I won't get a virus or a worm, impatience is going to win out. Edited May 5, 2004 by Ryan243 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
CR6 0 Posted May 6, 2004 Share Posted May 6, 2004 I've never downloaded an update. I'm too impatient. I just back up my files often and hope I don't get a virus. Hey ryan, nothing personal, but just want to say that this kind of attitude is why so many computers get infected by worms around the world. The problem is you do not need to download e-mails or visit websites to get a worm. Worms are different than viruses. They can infect your system just by plugging in your ethernet cord or dialing up with your modem. Some worms may not do too much harm to your system ... they may just sit in your computer and look for other computers to infect and slow down the Internet ... You may not be downloading much stuff, but you may be unaware that your computer is sending out stuff. If you get a software firewall like ZoneAlarm that checks for incoming and outgoing traffic from your system, you may be surprised what you find coming out of your system. For those with dial-up complaining it takes too long, I run two dial-up machines at my office and download MS critical patches over a 56K modem all the time. They are often not larger than a few MB, many are just a few hundred KB. They are faster to download than most game demos or mods. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Rocky 1,224 Posted May 6, 2004 Share Posted May 6, 2004 All I do is look at websites. I know I could still get an infection that way, but the odds are on my side. As long as the odds are that I won't get a virus or a worm, impatience is going to win out. That's how alot of dialup users feel, and that combined with the number of users who don't even know what windows update is, is why denial of service attacks are costing businesses big time People get infected because their OS is not patched, and their PC is used to launch an attack and they don't even know it. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
supasniper 0 Posted May 6, 2004 Share Posted May 6, 2004 also there are those of us who spent 7 hours downloading SP1 only to find due to my cd key being invalid (i mean, ###### surely if win installed it must be ok) i can't install it Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Rocky 1,224 Posted May 6, 2004 Share Posted May 6, 2004 also there are those of us who spent 7 hours downloading SP1 only to find due to my cd key being invalid (i mean, ###### surely if win installed it must be ok) i can't install it That's wierd, did you get it resolved? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
supasniper 0 Posted May 6, 2004 Share Posted May 6, 2004 nope, i've got all 100+mb of sp1 sitting here and i can't install it Quote Link to post Share on other sites
WhiteKnight77 1 Posted May 7, 2004 Share Posted May 7, 2004 Last year when my PSU took a crap, I fired up my second machine (to be able to IM with others and check GR.net and such), I had 3 trojans try to infect my PC within an hour of starting it up without a firewall. That is how fast it happens, having NAV on my PCs helps keep things at bay. Keeping your OS, AV and software firewalls(if you use one and if you don't you should even on dial-up and if not behind a router) up-to-date is the only way to keep these worms, DOS attacks, trojans and destructive virii from wrecking havok. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
CR6 0 Posted May 7, 2004 Share Posted May 7, 2004 nope, i've got all 100+mb of sp1 sitting here and i can't install it If you can't install SP1, it usually means that your version of WinXP bypassed the product activation. If yours is a home user machine, you'll likely need to reinstall WinXP with a CD that has an individual product activation code. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Crimson 0 Posted May 9, 2004 Share Posted May 9, 2004 An 18-year-old German high school student has admitted creating the Sasser internet worm, police say. The worm hit hundreds of thousands of computers last week, continually shutting down and rebooting them. The teenager was arrested on Friday near the town of Rotenburg in northern Germany with the help of the FBI and Microsoft. He has now been released. Investigators seized a number of computers and disks from his home. It is understood he was working alone. The teenager's identity has not been released, though the German weekly Der Spiegel reported that the CIA and FBI had joined the search for a suspect known as Sven J. He is now being investigated on suspicion of computer sabotage which under German law carries a sentence of up to five years in prison, the BBC's Tristana Moore in Berlin reports. Microsoft's $5 million fund for rewarding informants for leads on virus attacks has snagged its first success with the arrest of a man in Germany who has confessed to the release of the Sasser worm, the software giant said Saturday. In what the company called a "coordinated multinational law enforcement effort," information provided to Microsoft by informants led local authorities to arrest the 18-year-old unnamed resident of Rotenberg, Germany, only a week after the original Sasser virus had been released. Within 48 hours of the informants coming forward, our investigators and the German police were able to identify the perpetrator of the Sasser virus and to take him into custody," said Brad Smith, general counsel for Microsoft. "This individual is responsible, we believe, for all four variants of the Sasser virus." I've yet to be hit by this thing. Luckily the police nabbed this punk. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Dan 0 Posted May 9, 2004 Share Posted May 9, 2004 I've never downloaded an update. I'm too impatient. I just back up my files often and hope I don't get a virus. Hey ryan, nothing personal, but just want to say that this kind of attitude is why so many computers get infected by worms around the world. Why i dont download updates until i really need to: -Updates are big, 56k is slow, this no good -DOWNLOAD LIMIT: If i download more than a certain amount in a month, MY INTERNET IS CUT OFF UNTIL THE END OF SAID MONTH!!! This includes al email that doesnt come through my ISP, eg hotmail! And it is really, really, really annoyinh when u download some HUGE update, that eats up a massive amount of your quota, and you find you never neeeded it. Its just not viable. And sure, arresting the guy was good, but i dont think he'll get jail time, just have to fork out some $$, and hopfully theyll ban him from computers. But the virus is still out there, he has left his little interent legacy Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Velocity 0 Posted May 23, 2004 Share Posted May 23, 2004 IM HAVING TO USE MY BRO'S COMP, MINES SCREWED!...I turned on my computer and all of a sudden everything was very very very very slow, i cant do a thing, cant load up IE, takes about 3 minutes for start menu to appear, and that keeps disappearing. My CPU usage is at 100%...all the time! I've heard its the sasser worm/virus whatever the god damn is. But how do i get rid of it, i cant get on net for any help there like windows updates or wot since it doesn't load up - i tried leaving it for ages, no luck What can i do?! i got loads of work on there that i REALLY need....like NOW!! some of it is really important Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Foxtrot360 0 Posted May 23, 2004 Share Posted May 23, 2004 good to know i aint the only one with dial up btw ledenak i feel your pain im 33.8 k:( Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Rocky 1,224 Posted May 24, 2004 Share Posted May 24, 2004 Why i dont download updates until i really need to: -Updates are big, 56k is slow, this no good I believe the updates to prevent the sasser virus are around 200Kb, there really is no excuse for not downloading updates that size. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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