A Virus in a .gif Image now?!

Hey All,

I guess you can say im a computer paranoid freak. I found myself deeply despising computers because of all the worms, viruses and spyware out there,(Plus I had bad experiences with my old comp, I thought computers were just this big conspiracy for money, every January, it would either get a damaging virus or something in it would break or fry:

Year 1: A Virus Messed it up Beyond usage and did something to the dial up making it freeze when ever attempting to connect to the internet.
Year 2: The fan Fried
Year 3: The Harddrive fried (Horrible burnt plastic smell.)
Year 4: A Virus killed the ethernet driver or something, it couldn't connect to the internet even after reformatting, it claimed not to find the driver, and when installing it, it would claim there was some kind of conflict or it couldn't detect it. (The virus was called Bofra for some reason. No Clue, said it was a worm though.)

And somewhere in there, my monitor fried. So then it became an On going bet with friends and family, Which is going to bust next? (I had bet on the Mother Board.)
Anyway, I ended up giving that comp to my mother and getting myself a new custom made comp. However, Already I was bombarded with 4 VERY ANNOYING VIRUSES! (I locked them unlucky pieces of crap up in the Virus Vault on AVG and been wondering if I can delete them or will that release them back in my comp?)

OK, so now im this computer Paranoid maniac, jumping at any weird sounds it makes (Ad-Aware's scan complete sound thinger when it found critical things for example.) And wondering when it will blow up and kill me with it. (I read somewhere in the tower manual that if you didnt change the battery correctly or something like that, that the computer can blow up. I was like WHAT THE HELL AM I DOING WITH THIS IN MY APARTMENT THEN!?)

And so now, that im this weird freak and hold deep hatred for computers, I hear that you can now get a virus from GIF Images or some kind of Gif Image plugin?! WHAT THE HELL IS THIS SICK TWISTED PIXEL DATA WORLD TURNING INTO? IT'S LIKE MICROSOFT APPOCOLIPSE IS ON THE RISE!

Please, Wilders Security, Tell me this nightmare isn't true, or if it is.. any suggestions?

Also, I'm not really quick with computers.. What's a Hijack This thing people all over this forum keep talking about?

Thanks! Take care all and sorry to keep blabbing and blabbing like this.
(Oh and, Hi Blackspear lol I am posting in the Forums now!)

- Oneo

 

There is a proof of concept JPEG infection that is detected by most Anti-virus programs, and there is a free program available from DCS (the link will be in their forum) that can scan your system to see if you have such an infection.

Once you have gone through General Cleaning 3 times your system should be clean, then we'll get you started on securing your computer and teaching you how to use these programs so you will be knowledgeable and secure from here on in.

“Hijack This” is a tool used by experts to remove certain nasties that infect a system to a point where General Cleaning will not remove such.

Hope this helps...

Cheers

 

Ohhhhhhhhh!

Jpeg?! Wow.. Ok, well I'm going to go General Clean now. Oh yea, one more thing, If I clean my computer out and then get back on the net to download the security programs, wouldn't I be picking up other viruses on the way? (Well I know I would with IE but I use Mozilla Firefox.)

Would it be wiser to download them now and then install them right after im done?

Thanx! Take care!

- Oneo

 

First step is to download all programs, well actually before this is:

"PRINT out the following Instructions and read them FULLY before proceeding.

If you follow each step and don't continue until you have finished that step, then you will be fine

Cheers

 

Hi Oneothora,

I just wanted to say that I experienced very similar problems with 2 of my other
computers you described.
Fried motherboard, Slowing down to a crawl, and then to Death.

Probably numerous of viruses and other pests - but didn't know for sure what kind, because my Virusscanner just gave up on me. It wouldn't say a peep.

And...And.....And.................................................................

I and my family members were thinking and blaming most of it on me smoking by the puter. OK...I know it isn't good for electronics just as it isn't for our lungs.
But guess what ?!
After I got this new one, and added more security programs,
We haven't gotten almost no problems in over a year (So far! )

My kids respectfully call me Paranoid and they claim their friends have only
a Virusscanner on their machine and never, never Ever have any problems.

Uhuhm.

Well..if that is True - I truly wonder how in the (internet)- World can that be possible? Considering they like to go on all kinds of crappy Sites - download music, etc, etc...!

Shall I tell my kids to buzz off (lol) or ground them for 6 months for
exaggerating and telling me only a virusscanner is needed ??!

They just seem so inconvinsible and it's mommies fault - Her smoke (alone)
made the puter stop running...bla bla bla, nag nag nag.......



~Nat~ *continuing on being paranoid with bliss*

 

It's only a matter of time, there is a heavy hall truck bearing down on them fully laden with Viruses, Trojans, Malware and Spyware. They are happily walking towards it pretending it's not there. Oh there's going to be tears when it happens... I need the computer to finish my assignment!!! Why has my bank account been cleaned out!!!...etc, etc. It’s no different than skylarking along the edge of a cliff, just because you haven’t fallen so far, gravity tells you it’s just a matter of time

I have heard the EXACT same thing sooooo many times, and sometimes it takes a second go before they want to learn. Some people hit their head against a brick wall and don’t want to have it happen again, others continually hit their heads against the same wall and blame it on everything and everyone else…

Cheers

Blackspear

 

Hey Nat,

Yea, I have trouble trusting virus scanners, I have to always have like 3 installed and I wait and see like its some competition of who's gonna pick up the nasties first.
I know the feeling of the incredible slowness though, Oh God it drove me mad, it came to the point where my computer was faster if I unplugged the cable internet wire and I still dont get exactly how, but I'm assuming it's because of all the data being transfered from my computer to where ever considering my internet bill kept saying I was doing alot of uploading. (Which I wasn't.)

HAHA! Yea, I remember when I first got my computer, I was 13, which is now.. uh... 5 years ago? Wow time flies when your getting older. Anyway, when I first got it, I knew nothing about it, I remember getting frustrated over a program and just deleting it's icon thinking it was off the computer now! And the biggest thing was discovering I could make myself an e-mail address. It was like, WOW! MOMMY LOOKIT ME NOW! I JUST DISCOVERED THE JACKPOT OF THE INTERNET! !

I kept hearing sometimes on the news about Viruses and stuff but ya know, when your a kid, your always like " Plah! It always happens to someone else, not me! " and at the time, I think the biggest virus going on was the "I love you" Virus, Something like that. Haha, I was rolling on my little windows 98 thinking I was invicible. Then January came along and POW! I was devastated lol
Yea, I heard smoke wasn't good. But isn't it not good when it gets into the fan and into the machine or something? Actually, it probably depends on how your computer is made. My other computer, (Mr Windows 98 ) only had a fan at the back to blow the hot air out. My new one, (Mr Top Notch Windows XP)
Has a fan on the side aswell to suck in cool air, I assume its a circulation thing. That's important for a computer so it doesn't crap out on you.

Blackspear's right though. Just a Virus Scanner isn't enough, and we all have a right to be paranoid and wanting to protect the load of money we spent on that thing, and having it break isn't good because you'll just be spending more money on getting it repaired. I say better overly exagerated safe, than sorry
My friend had an incident actually, well her mother, (Their computer is infested with crap, I wouldnt be surprised if it was the biggest malware, worm, and trojan hot spot in the world.)
Anyway, she had to go to florida, and ofcourse, booked her flight online. Luckily she printed out all the confirmation documents she got in her e-mail, because when she got there, the lady told her someone had called in to cancel her flight, and changed it to another person's name.
When she showed them the papers and told them she never canceled, they were all puzzled and didn't know how that could have happened.
Another incident, My neighbor,she'd always brag about how great technology was these days and how easy it was to just check her bank account online. Then when the christmas holidays came along, her, her husband and kids went down to New York. When they got there, they went shopping and the lady told them their bank account was empty. When they called the bank and so on, she was told that someone in Canada, had taken all her money out from an ATM machine.

And there ya go, I personally don't trust computers enough to check anything of mine online. Wether it be a credit card order or checking your bank account, I just don't trust it.
But like I said, having alot of security is good. I'm not telling people not to check their things online, but if you do, atleast play it safe ya know.

HAHAHA! I will Nat, I will... Computers are just so damn freakin unstrustable.

Take care now!

- Oneo

 

You first step should not be getting the DCS scanner and see if you have any badboy .jpeg's, simply because they do not exist in the wild unless you have downloaded some specially crafted lab samples. And to put it all in perspective..even if you had one of those..the vulnerability is actually a two step process requiring other controls to be exploited since the jpeg thingie is NOT an executalbe on your PC and never will be. In other words it is a very hard hack for anyone to pull off and compromised your PC.

What you should be doing is first understand what the system OS and jpeg viewing programs you just might have on your PC that are vulnerable..then Patch them..and the problem for you goes away completely.

To help you find out..Get the GDI Scan Tool . Run it. It will tell you which if any of your programs could be vulnerable...and then how to fix and patch all those programs.



GDI Scan Tutorial and how to fix the GDI+ JPEG Vulnerability

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/topict3077.html


Description of the vulnerability at Microsoft

http://www.microsoft.com/security/bulletins/200409_jpeg.mspx

********************************************

Then if you are still anxious to see if you can find any of those funny jpeg on your PC you can get the DCS scanner and fire away.

Free scanner+repair for infected JPEGs (MS04-02

http://www.diamondcs.com.au/jpegscan/


No one has yet to find one in the wild..but you never know

 

HAHA! Yea, I am a graphic artist believe it or not, and it never did make sense to me how gifs OR jpegs can be some kind of viruses since -as you stated above- they're not executable.
I still can't grab the concept really. But I have alot of image viewers, however, how would those "badboy .jpegs" get on my computer in the first place unless I saved them? Or if someone sends em over.. But wouldn't it have more effect if it was on a webpage and would mess up your browser? ...Hope Im not giving any possible ideas to some evil little men out there

Hahahaha! I like you. Fire away... If only it was that easy, computers are just so complicated when it comes to the nasties that I am so close to making it eat some baseball bat.

But Thanx for all the great info I assume they can also get in the temp folder, (Never bothered to go see if they did so don't mock if this sounds silly. ) And will "Fire Away" with scanners.

 

OH WOW, I REALLY AM DENSE! Hahahaha! ok Nevermind that whole Shakespear talk about webbrowsers falling to the wind with evil slug images.

I bet you 5 frikken canadian dollars that I will be the unlucky first to fall on them one day! It just always has to be me, Im like some "evil crap" magnet.

 

PROGRAMS you need:
FIREWALL !
ANTISPYWARE !
ANTIVIRUS/TROJAN !

Ok well here go's lot of you all talking about paranoia
well i dont believe there is such thing as paranoia when it comes to computers and the internet. i seen an fixed a lot of funky stuff in my time with computers hardware and software especially. ok so what prompted me to post here ?
well everyone is talking about antivirus and no one is talking of
FIREWALL ! ok so for all those that dont know and could possibly benefit from my explanation of what a firewall does and what it is capable of doing for you in relation to viruses/trojans and the blocking there of.
ok so ... a firewall blocks/guards thousands of ports on your pc, think of those as channels on your tv when you switch it on, but when your connected to the internet your not just listening/watching one channel but thousands all at once. a firewall on your pc will guard all those ports and listen for information going or attempting to go thru them or use them to transmit viruses to your pc, a good firewall can verify outgoing traffic is infact coming from legitimate programs and not some virus already inadvertently downloaded into your pc, as im shure a lot of you posting on this board will be familliar with due to the topic being raised in the posts that antivirus software will sometimes miss some viruses/trojans and some other antivirus programs will pick up on them, and there is an element of viruses/trojans that no antivirus and spyware detector will be capable of detecting, that only a firewall can defend you against, i'll talk about antispyware in a bit seen as that wasnt discussed either.
ok so how does that firewall defend against that stuff, well i like to think of that as brute force last resort, it is simply ! SCRIPT STOPPING ! ok for all those that dont know what script stopping is, when you view a webpage thru your browser the website your accessing will be downloading a whole bunch of stuff into to your pc (TEMP INTERNET FILES) to render the page you are trying to view,
ok so .. you can block some or a lot of that script from being downlaoded and run on your pc but inso doing some functionality of webpages will be stopped but you can always lower the settings if the desired aspect of the webpage your trying to view does not appear, also if we take one firewall ie.. zone alarm pro, there are 3 aspects/settings you will need to toggle in the menus, COOKIE CONTROL, AD BLOCKING, CODE CONTROL. these are your major stopping power against viruses/trojans as viruses cannot downlaod and execute code if you have it blocked. why zone pro ? well simply because it offers unpresedented simplistic user interface layout. there are a lot of other firewalls just as effective at doing exactly the same thing some lemons out there too so just be careful and do your homework when/before buying. i will be talking about zone alarm because it is the one i use i have tried a number of other but prefer zone pro for the above reasons, and it offers exellent value for money/features. anyway im not here to sell firewalls im here to teach you about them.
once you learn how to configure zone alarm thru the HELP FILES ! and yes you have to read those other wise dont bother cause if you havent got your firewall configured properly it will be as much use as a CHOCOLATE FIRE GUARD ! and so will your antivirus as just running antivirus without a firewall is FUTILE ! ---- ON ONE LAST NOTE ! DO NOT RUN ANY MORE THAN 1 FIREWALL AT A TIME -- time after time i chat to people in chatrooms and they tell me no one has a chance of hacking them cause they have 3 or more firewalls running at one time, well i got news for them they may as well not have any firewall at all, why you ask ? because running any more than one firewall at a time will cause conflict as all those firewall programs fight for control over the same ports and in so doing it WILL ! leave your computer wide open to ATTACK !.. by they way windows firewall is no exeption to that some 3rd party (none microsoft) firewalls are designed to interface with the windows firewall in xp but you still have to turn it off, as the part the 3rd party firewall is interfacing with isnt the main firewall which when your using 3rd party firewall such as zone alarm pro or mcafee or any other you will need to turn the windows xp firewall off the interface between the windows xp firewall and the 3rd party firewall will still work but that main firewall has to be turned off for the above reasons.
ok so enough about firewalls now on to what anti spyware programs do, oh now im beginning to drop myself in it, ok how do i explain this short and sweet ? .... well put simply an antispyware program pretty much works exactly like and antivirus program but searches for a whole lot of other things that could compromise your system it is fact and dont let anyone tell you any different, you are far more likely to get spyware, hijacked, keylogged, antispyware programs such as microsoft anti spyware beta are dedicated to detecting this kind of stuff where as antivirus/trojan arnt really geared up for detecting a lot of keyloggers spyware if your using XP (available only to windows xp users) are extreamly good at catching all those spyware programs that most and leading antivirus such as mcafee dont support detection of. once again read all the help files and learn how to use it PROPERLY ! ok thats me i think ..... oh yeah i almost forgot, .gif viruses/trojans or how ever you want to see them are out there in the "WILD" it is fact !why do you think the worlds most leading buisnesses and government are using valuable IT resources scanning for them ? why do you think some of the leading antivirus/spyware scanners scan for them dont let anyone fool you by their un-educated CORN !
best regards: DAVID AUSTIN (internet alias)

 

well belive me you aint giving those little hacker monkeys any ideas those are some of the most technically advanced minds in the world your talking about if you can think it they have been there and done it trust me.

and yes the most common way of proliferating that kind of attack is in spoofed/cloned webpages like google, msn, yahoo, microsoft, all ahve had this problem and dont let no security expert tell you different cause you can see for yourself do your homework.