Virus Hits Wikipedia

The virus writers created a page on the German Wikipedia that linked to a fake fix for a new version of an old malicious Windows worm but instead of curing a bug, those installing the

fix would be infected by a new Windows virus.

The page on the German version of the online encyclopaedia has now been removed thankfully.

Graham Cluley said "The very openness of websites like Wikipedia - which allow anyone to edit pages - makes them terrific, but can also make them less trustworthy,” senior technology consultant for Sophos. "In this case, the article in question wasn't just

misleading, it was downright malicious."

The page hijacked by the virus creators was about a new variant of the Windows Blaster worm. This malicious program debuted in 2003 and caught out many PC users.

Included on the page was a link to a supposed patch that, once downloaded and installed, would protect against this new version. However, anyone installing this on a Windows

machine would infect themselves with a virus. The malicious hackers behind the fake article then sent out a German-language spam e-mail with a message crafted to look like it came from Wikipedia. The message directed people to

the web page and the fake fix.

Fake FBI virus catches net users

A Windows virus that warns users about illegal net use is spreading online. The bug-bearing message claims to come from either the FBI, CIA or German BKA police agency. It warns users they have been detected visiting illegal sites.

Those opening a questionnaire attached to the message will be infected by a variant of the well-known Sober virus. The virus travels in an e-mail message with the subject line of "You visit illegal websites" or "Your IP was logged".

The Windows virus started circulating on 22 November and mail filtering firm MessageLabs said it caught almost three million copies of the Sober variant in the first 24 hours of the outbreak. By the end of Wednesday Postini said it had netted more than seven million copies of the bug.

Staying safe with anti protection.For a long time anti-virus software has been in the front line when it

comes to stopping malicious programs infecting PCs. But as the creators of viruses and other malicious programs adapt

their methods to exploit the weaknesses of anti-virus software, some are looking to other methods to help them stay safe.

One such is Brent Rickels, the one-man IT department for the First National Bank of Bosque County in Texas, who has thrown out his anti-virus software and has a much quieter life as a result.

"I just wanted to be able to sleep at night," he said explaining the decision to stop using anti-virus.

"There had to be something better by now," Mr Rickels told the BBC News website. "Anti-virus is such a reactive model."

"The bad guys out there have copies of Symantec and Trend Micro and all of the anti-virus software and are using it to develop their stuff on and get their stuff past it," he said.