___________________________________________________________

When did you last run your anti-virus program?

__________________________________________________________

Sundaily

Flame spy virus gets order to vanish

SAN FRANCISCO (June 10, 2012): US computer security researchers said Sunday that the Flame computer virus that smoldered undetected for years in Middle Eastern energy facilities has gotten orders to vanish, leaving no trace.

Anti-virus company Symantec said in a blog post that late last week, some Flame “command-and-control servers sent an updated command to several compromised computers.”

“This command was designed to completely remove (Flame) from the compromised computers.”

Flame malicious software (malware) appears to have been “in the wild” for two years or longer and prime targets so far have been energy facilities in the Middle East, especially in Iran.

Flame spy virus gets order to vanish

———————————————————————————————————-

Sundaily

Flame virus found in local PC

PETALING JAYA (June 7, 2012): The Flame malware which has espionage tools has infected at least one local computer.

CyberSecurity Malaysia chief executive officer Datuk Husin Jazri said today the malware infection was reported by Russian firm Kaspersky Lab three days ago.

“We are waiting for the details to be verified. It could be a researcher playing with the malware,” he told a news conference at the CyberSecurity office.

However, he said that the infection was not serious. “Do not be alarmed by this. Flame has a very specific purpose and target unlike other malware,” he said.

Flame virus found in local PC

__________________________________________________________

ONE DAY, WHEN I WAS STILL NEW TO COMPUTERS, I TURNED ON MY DESK TOP.

ALL I GOT WAS A BLANK SCREEN. OVERNIGHT, ‘SOMETHING’ HAD EATEN UP EVERYTHING. IT TURNED OUT THAT MY FIREWALL WAS DOWN. HOW? NEVER FOUND OUT. BUT IT WAS ALL GONE. LUCKILY, I HAD DONE MY BACK-UP OF FILES ONLY TWO DAYS BEFORE, SO I LOST LITTLE.

____________________________________________________________

A computer virus is a small software program that spreads from one computer to another and interferes with computer operation. A computer virus might corrupt or delete data on a computer, use an email program to spread the virus to other computers, or even delete everything on the hard disk.

Computer viruses are frequently spread by attachments in email messages or by instant messaging messages. Therefore, you must never open an email attachment unless you know who sent the message or you are expecting the email attachment.

A worm is computer code that spreads without user interaction. Most worms begin as email attachments that infect a computer when they’re opened. The worm scans the infected computer for files, such as address books or temporary webpages, that contain email addresses. The worm uses the addresses to send infected email messages, and frequently mimics (or spoofs) the “From” addresses in later email messages so that those infected messages seem to be from someone you know. Worms then spread automatically through email messages, networks, or operating system vulnerabilities, frequently overwhelming those systems before the cause is known. Worms aren’t always destructive to computers, but they usually cause computer and network performance and stability problems.

Want to know more about other types of viruses such as a Trojan horse, spyware and rogue security software? Or malware?

Go to

support.microsoft.com/kb/129972 – Cached

___________________________________________________________

Sundaily

Flame: the new internet stalker

PETALING JAYA (June 1, 2012): The next time you are in a coffee shop with free Wi-Fi access, think twice before accessing the service.

Dubbed as Flame, this malware is capable of performing cyber spying on almost any computer worldwide.

The sophistication of Flame lies in its capabilities to collect basic information about the system and local network, record network connections, search and steal files based on name patterns, record audio (if a microphone is available in the system), make screenshots, grab textual windows’ contents and scan for locally available Bluetooth and wireless access devices.

• Flame: the new internet stalker
  PETALING JAYA (June 1, 2012): The next time you are in a coffee shop…

———————————————————————————————————-

Radio Free Europe
Radio Liberty

Iran

Flame, ‘The Most Powerful Virus To Date’

What is Flame and what does it do?

Flame is a computer virus that Tehran says is infecting its computers and which independent experts say is the most powerful virus yet seen. The virus appears to be a major escalation in the cyberwar that some governments concerned by Iran’s nuclear program are suspected of waging against Tehran to sabotage its progress.

The virus infects computers in order to spy on users, steal classified information, and cause the mass deletion of data. It does this by sniffing network traffic, taking screenshots, recording audio conversations, and intercepting keyboard activity. The data it collects is relayed back to the virus’s creators.

www.rferl.org/content/flame–computer–virus-iran…

———————————————————————————————————–

news.yahoo.com/…flame-malicious-computer–virus-ravaging…

____________________________________________________________

The Flame computer virus that smoldered undetected for years in Middle Eastern energy facilities confirmed fears that the world has entered a new age of cyber espionage and sabotage.

Internet defenders on Wednesday were tearing into freshly exposed Flame malware (malicious software) that could be adapted to spread to critical infrastructures in countries around the world.

While the components and tactics of Flame were considered old school, the gigantic virus’s interchangeable software modules and targeted nature were evidence that malware is a potent weapon in the Internet era.

Flame virus a new age cyber spy tool

AFP via Yahoo! News – May 30 08:08pmThe Flame computer virus that smoldered undetected for years in Middle Eastern energy facilities confirmed fears that the world has entered a new age of cyber espionage and sabotage. Intern

————————————————————————————————————