Words have a longer life than deeds.
Pindar (522 BC - 443 BC) Greek lyric poet.

- Viruses and newsgroups -
Oxygen3 24h-365d, by Panda Software (http://www.pandasoftware.com)

Madrid, March 19 2004 - In today's Oxygen3 24h-365d we'll look at how
newsgroups are used by malicious code in order to propagate, and how to
protect against this threat.



Newsgroups are Internet forums that enable users to discuss a wide range of
issues by posting their questions, problems or replies, which can then be
read by the rest of the members of the newsgroup. Despite the enormous
utility of newsgroups, they do entail a certain danger as, in theory, any
virus could be hidden in a message, as happened with Sobig.F. This worm
first emerged in the summer of 2003 and was one of the fastest spreading
viruses ever. It was included in messages posted in several newsgroups
disguised as an erotic image and as a result, many users downloaded it and
executed the file, immediately infecting their computers.

The types of security threats that spread most effectively through
newsgroups are Trojans, as they don't usually have obvious effects and can
easily install themselves on computers without the user realizing. However,
other threats like dialers and spyware, for example, have also found in
newsgroups an excellent means of spreading rapidly and widely. For this
reason users should always take maximum precautions when using the service.

Newsgroups use a different communications protocol from that used to browse
the Internet or to send and receive mail. This protocol is NNTP and it has
been especially designed to allow the different messages in each group to be
saved on a single host (or computer that provides information), allowing
subscribers to read the new messages that are posted.

This means that users who regularly participate in newsgroups need an
antivirus program that is capable of scanning NNTP; otherwise a virus would
be able to get into their computers when they read a message. Similarly, if
the antivirus can protect NNTP traffic, it is important to make sure that it
is configured to scan it. By doing this, users can access newsgroups without
any risks.

Panda Software's solutions inspect inbound and outbound NNTP traffic,
preventing newsgroups from being used as a virus entry point. If a user
downloads a file that could be infected by a virus or if a malicious code
hidden in a message tries to exploit a vulnerability to run automatically or
download a file to the computer, the antivirus software will detect it and
prevent it from causing any damage.

More information on Panda Software solutions is available from:
http://www.pandasoftware.com

NOTE: The address above may not show up on your screen as a single line.
This would prevent you from using the link to access the web page. If this
happens, just use the 'cut' and 'paste' options to join the pieces of the
URL.