'Gumblar' PC virus targets Google users

[Noreen]

Just in case this hasn't been mentioned before.

A computer virus that targets Google users is mutating rapidly, turning it into what some are calling the biggest threat to online security today.

The worm, known as Gumblar, attacks computers through vulnerabilities in some version of Adobe's PDF reader and Flash player software. Once it infects a victim's PC, it silently redirects the user's Google search results to sites that download more malware onto the machine or allow criminals to conduct "phishing" attacks to steal login details for banking, social networking and websites.....................

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/may/22/gumblar-google-malware

[Rik]

Deep joy. The problem is, who is not a Google user these days. 

[Noreen]

I had a look at the US Gov site mentioned in the article, interesting. http://www.us-cert.gov/current/index.html#gumblar_malware_attack_circulating

[Rik]

As always, the advice seems to be 'patch promptly'.

[Lance]

Which is fine as long as the patches are there to be had!

[Sebby]

In Microsoft's defence, they're usually quite quick to issue patches.

[Gary]

In Microsoft's defence, they're usually quite quick to issue patches.

I would say thats not the case Sebby, sadly some holes remain unpatched for months, some years. In November last year MS released update, MS08-068, which addressed an NT LAN Manager reflection vulnerability in the Server Message Block protocol. The exploit was discovered in 2000, and the code was first published back in March of 2001. That means that a known security vulnerability related to a Microsoft authentication protocol sat unpatched for seven years! Now that's an extreme case (I hope) but we do not know if there are vulnerabilities still unpatched now from months agao, as its closed software. The recent powerpoint patch took far to long, Adobe drag their heels as well, but they are looking for a new patching cycle similar to MS for the PDF reader, not sure about Flash (oh that damn song from queen always pops in my head with that word) though  at least many new AV's help the user with flagging programs that need patching, but as Lance says that's as long as there is a patch.