Maybe this isn't enough to sound the bell across
the land, but, as expected, there are still security vulnerabilities out there hitting the Linux and Mac folks. Last
week there was that
Mac
Trojan, which was just a proof-of-concept (and not a good one at that). There's still a nasty Safari hole that
Ars Technica is insisting is a major problem. I'm
inclined to agree, shell scripts can do some damage. And then I see a
worm
for Linux that targets Mambo and PHP. The PHP fix has been out for a while (provided you update things regularly),
but the Mambo hole is still there. Ah security, will it ever end? As long as people use computers, I think not. My
first virus (and hence, exposure to the need for security) was on a Mac, what was yours?
Tags: news, trojan, worm
Facebook Plunges Again
Tumblr 101: Tips And Tricks To Get Started
Comments
3
Subscribe to commentsDave M.Feb 21st 2006 11:35AM
Victor, you are a brave man to say that your first virus was on a Mac.
The virus that caused the most problems for me personally was on Macs. I was a programmer at a teaching hospital and the Mac's in the Lab were being hit by that virus that messed up printing. The folks that used the computers didn't want any AV software installed on the computers, so I had to "wash" the floppies quite a few times before they would allow me to install AV software to kill the virus.
My first personal virus was on an Amiga 500. Floppy based again. I had to wash all my floppies after being infected. The virus was the one that proclaimed that my computer had become alive and was infected with a virus. Of course is proclaimed this 2-3 weeks after first getting it.
The only other virus I have ever personally received was one that randomly picked IP addresses and attempted to connect to that IP via file sharing. It would copy itself to the new system and a link to it in the Startup folder.
There may be tens of thousands of viruses out there for Windows, but I just don't get any of them. I guess I'm just a safe user. :)
zeno DavatzFeb 21st 2006 11:55AM
Since when does Linux equal PHP! Your title should be "Worm for Mambo and PHP". Linux is the Kernel, nothing else. Keep up the good work.
Best
Zeno
Mark D.Feb 22nd 2006 4:11PM
I think my first was some dinky little one in Win 3.1 on an IBM PS/1 Expert, which was quickly brought down by Dr. Solomon's AV (personal favorite AV until it was bought out and discontinued.) I also had one try to spread by floppy from a school computer when I brought the diskette home to work on some programming assignments, Dr. Sol got that too, though I think I was on 95 then.
In reply to Zeno:
I still think the title is fine, as the worm targets security holes in php on Linux-based systems, I mean technically the title should read "Worm for Mambo and PHP on Linux, oh and some OS X/Safari security flaws as well", but then it's too wordy. I mean that's what the body of the article is for, right?