ZDNet UK


Skip to Main Content

ZDNet.co.uk - Winner of Best Business Website 2007
  1. Home
  2. News
  3. Blogs
  4. Reviews
  5. Prices
  6. Resources
  7. Community
  8. My ZDNet

 

ZDNet UK RSS Feeds


IT Jobs

Toolkit

Story: Swen worm tops virus charts

  • Previous comment

Posted by: Anonymous (Monday 22 September 2003, 2:10 PM)

  • Reply

That one was a close call!
I regluarly patch my system, working in the IT indstry I know of the importance of security patches and even at home I run the latest virus scans and have installed a firewall.
The most recent virus problem I had on my home setup was MSBlaster, not that I hadn't patched the system but I had just re-installed the OS after fitting a new hard disk. I had installed the network drivers (for my broadband connection) and 6 minutes later my machine was brought crashing down by blaster. Luckily I had installed my firewall so I could detach Blaster.exe from the network, this stops it running long enough to download patched and virus signature updates to I could remove it.

For me to get Swen, I would have had to open the email. I never usually fall for the "Social Engineering" type of virus delivery but this one ALMOST got me. This is the first time I got that close to falling for the trick and to be honest, that scares me! I was just about to open the infected email when I suddenly snapped into reality and remembered the MS never emails patches and even though I was using hotmail opening this email would be dangerous. It wasn't until I got to work and checked ZDNet new that I realised just how close I was.

If a worm like this can get a seasoned (I have had my share of reformatted hard disks and unknown strangers using my PC through trojans) IT professional like me then I hate to think about how many new and unexperenced users are getting hit by this one!

  • Previous comment

  • Reply to this comment
  • Return to story
  • Report this as offensive


Full Talkback thread