“A fast-spreading e-mail worm is raising alarms because its sole purpose is to obliterate the everyday working documents widely used by consumers, students and businesses. The Kama Sutra worm — also referred to as Nyxem.E and Grew.A — is unnerving because, unlike other e-mail worms, it appears to be detached from any profit motive. It is designed to destroy all Microsoft Word, Excel, Access and PowerPoint documents and Adobe Acrobat and Photoshop files on all hard drives connected to an infected PC,” Byron Acohido and Jon Swartz report for USA Today. “The worm appears in e-mail in-boxes with subject lines such as ‘hot movie,’ ‘A Great Video’ or ‘Crazy illegal Sex!’ enticing the recipient to click on an attachment. One variation makes reference to the ancient Sanskrit book on sexual positions.”
“By clicking on the attachment, the victim launches a program that disables anti-virus protection. The infected PC then begins to send copies of similarly tainted e-mail to every e-mail address on the victim’s hard drive,” Acohido and Swartz report. “But while most e-mail worms also plant a back door to give an intruder control of the PC, or a program to steal log-ons and passwords, this worm’s sole purpose is destruction. It implants a program to erase common work files on the third day of the month, hitting even external data-storage devices connected to the infected PC. IDefense, a VeriSign company, confirmed the deletion program works. More than 500,000 PCs are believed to have been infected since it first appeared on Jan. 16. That’s a modest infection rate, but victims face grim consequences. On Friday — Feb. 3 — any infected machines will lose all Microsoft documents and Adobe files.”
Full article here.
Presumably because they can’t report correctly or they think everyone uses Windows or perhaps because USA Today derives much more advertising revenue from Windows-related companies such as HP, Dell, Microsoft, etc. than from Apple Mac-related entities, Acohido and Swartz neglect to mention how Mac users are affected by this nasty worm. Amazingly the duo can’t muster one single mention between them for their readers that 20+ million Mac OS X users are unaffected. Who said two heads are better than one? All it would’ve taken was a single simple sentence: “Macs are unaffected.” Instead, nothing; although it’s certainly newsworthy and would be news to many of their readers that Mac users are immune to this destructive worm. They don’t even state it’s a Windows problem! This article (and others like it) protects Microsoft and hurts Apple by omitting easily reportable facts.
So, while we understand the situation, let’s all feign ignorance, so that the “reporters” and USA Today will see the confusion they have caused. Perhaps a few email questions will help USA Today to properly report the basics in the future, so that tomorrow’s fish-wrap readers will be able to see for themselves this simple fact:
Macintosh. Because life’s too short.
Here’s a simple email example:
Dear USA Today,
I read your article “E-mail worm bent only on destruction” today with great alarm. I have many Adobe and Microsoft files on my PC and I certainly do not want them all to be deleted on February 3rd. I am very worried about possible infection. Your article didn’t mention which kind of computers are at risk. Can you please tell me if my Apple Macintosh is affected by this destructive worm?
Thank you very much,
Mr. or Mrs. Fish Wrap Reader
Contact information:
Online form for USA Today Letter to the Editor
Byron Acohido:
Jon Swartz:
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Related articles:
Attempting to protect Windows PCs from viruses, worms while Mac users surf the Net with impunity – January 31, 2006
eWeek: Intel transition a ‘security non-issue’ for Apple Mac – January 30, 2006
Security technologies that have made Mac OS X secure for PowerPC remain same for Intel-based Macs – January 27, 2006
Windows virus threatens 170-year-old Toldeo newspaper’s perfect record, Apple Macs save the day – January 27, 2006
ZDNet Australia publishes latest Mac OS X security FUD article – January 26, 2006
‘Highly critical’ flaw in discovered in Symantec AntiVirus for Mac OS X – December 21, 2005
Microsoft Windows virus spreads rapidly; Apple Macintosh unaffected – November 28, 2005
Computer columnist: anti-virus software purely optional for Apple Macs, not so for Windows – November 01, 2005
Microsoft apologists and why Apple’s Mac OS X has zero viruses – October 24, 2005
$500 bounty offered for proof of first Apple Mac OS X virus – September 27, 2005
ZDNet: How many Mac OS X users affected by the last 100 viruses? None, zero, not one, not ever – August 18, 2005
>Macaday wrote: The resultant spaghetti code became full of things that once written were forgotten about, never re-visited, and sometimes never even checked or verified.
Possible! But I still find it spectacularly hard to believe that with the talent and resources MS has, it would produce such an “open” closed-source architecture.
Was it corporate culture that forced sloppy coding?
Hastened the packaging of not-ready-for-market software?
… and where are the newspaper headlines that read: “What the hell is going on at Microsoft?!”
>Macaday wrote: The resultant spaghetti code became full of things that once written were forgotten about, never re-visited, and sometimes never even checked or verified.
Possible! But I still find it spectacularly hard to believe that with the talent and resources MS has, it would produce such an “open” closed-source architecture.
Was it corporate culture that forced sloppy coding?
Hastened the packaging of not-ready-for-market software?
… and where are the newspaper headlines that read: “What the hell is going on at Microsoft?!”
>Macaday wrote: The resultant spaghetti code became full of things that once written were forgotten about, never re-visited, and sometimes never even checked or verified.
Possible! But I still find it spectacularly hard to believe that with the talent and resources MS has, it would produce such an “open” closed-source architecture.
Was it corporate culture that forced sloppy coding?
Hastened the packaging of not-ready-for-market software?
… and where are the newspaper headlines that read: “What the hell is going on at Microsoft?!”
>Macaday wrote: The resultant spaghetti code became full of things that once written were forgotten about, never re-visited, and sometimes never even checked or verified.
Possible! But I still find it spectacularly hard to believe that with the talent and resources MS has, it would produce such an “open” closed-source architecture.
Was it corporate culture that forced sloppy coding?
Hastened the packaging of not-ready-for-market software?
… and where are the newspaper headlines that read: “What the hell is going on at Microsoft?!”
dix99: IT departments can be blamed if there are legacy programs that can not be converted to Apple software. If there are programs that are not available for the Mac, ie, UPS/Fed Ex shipping software, QuickBooks Enterprise software then the IT department can not efficiently switch to Mac’s. I know that is were I am. I replace pc’s with Mac’s were I can. Maybe down the road with the Intel switch I will be able to do a 100% replacement but we will have to wait and see.
MDN: Why are we seeing M$soft advertisements on this site?
“So, another lucky escape then Evil_MS_User! Sure you will nail it next time, or the time after that, or the one after that – ad infinitum?”
For those of you who are not familiar with corporate IT – our security is layered (remember Shrek’s description?
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”wink” style=”border:0;” />). Firewalls, IDS, Email gateways, etc. AntiVirus protection on the client is the last line of defense.
The important thing to note here is that all this protection is not just for viruses. This particular virus that’s hitting the news is a throwback to an earlier age. The script kiddies disappeared a long time ago. Malware is now the province of organized crime – and they don’t want to destroy your system. They want to take control of it without you knowing about it. That’s the real danger. And these coders can hack anything – OS X included.
Dipshit wrote:
“Time to go to school.
PC=Personal Computer
A Macintosh is a personal computer.
This would be like writing an article stating that your car is susceptible to complete brake failure and failing to mention that BMW’s are not affected because BMW makes “driving machines” and not cars.
It is incredible to me that this is not even labeled a “Windows” virus. As an obnoxiously smug Mac user who is out of touch with the functioning of these things, I would even hazard to guess that not all e-mail applications under Windoze are affected by this. The headling calling this an e-mail virus would also be misleading then.
If I had half of my brain removed, I could become a reporter and still offer the reader a list of operating systems and email applications that are affected.
If I had 3/4 removed, I could become a Windoze user or call myself Cpt. Oblivious.”
Wow I’ve been schooled indeed. I mean, I had no idea. Just like you have no idea the term PC has largely been attached to Windows based computers for years now. Just like Apple “PCs” are called Macs.
But again, thanks for the lesson.
Next thing you’re going to tell me is the the “i” in iMac still stands for “internet,” right?
I THINK WE’RE ALL FORGETTING THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF THIS STORY…….
PC VIRUSES………..50,001 (or something close)
MAC VIRUSES………0
But wait, Macs are PCs right!?!?!?!?!?!?!?
If I wrap the ONE Windoze machine we have at the office with Plastic and Duct-Tape will that prevent the virus from getting in?
The author of the USA Today piece, Byron Acohido, won a Pulitzer Prize in 1997 for spreading FUD about Boeing.
http://www.pulitzer.org/year/1997/beat-reporting/
Why does the Mac community (at least those here) gloat over ANYONE getting hit by a virus and losing hundreds or thousands of hours worth of work? The Mac community is in a sad state, and I am a Mac user!
Just a note: Yes, Mac OS X is INHERENTLY much more secure than Windows(pick your flavor), but remember that while the Mac OS X firewall does help protect from and logs INCOMING Internet intrusions. IT DOES NOT MONITOR/REGULATE ANY OUTGOING TRAFFIC.
SCENERIO:
You just downloaded a great new app from the Internet and installed it – giving it permission to install by entering your admin password. The program installs and works great. You love it. It works exactly as stated. BUT WAIT – THAT PROGRAM IS SECERETLY PHONING HOME. Neither Mac OS X OR the built-in firewall detect a thing because the firewall DOES NOT MONITOR OUTGOING TRAFFIC. So you continue to use the app in blissful glee until you find out that you’ve been compromised and personal info/files have been harvested or deleted (similar to the virus above – but my scenerio is a TROJAN). This is a totally legitimate scenerio in the Mac Universe.
Install Little Snitch – it monitors any outgoing connections your apps/OS are making (some are legit – like software updates). Others may not be so benign.
DON’T BE COMPLACENT JUST BECAUSE IT HASN’T HAPPENED – YET……..Use common sense. Don’t get lazy about security issues just because you use a Mac – it may bite you some day.