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:: MAX BLACK ::

"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience." --C.S. Lewis

"The Swiss pocket knife of conservative thought on the web..." - Eli Kardrakian

"Bookmark Max and dump your subscription to the newspaper; if you don't have a birdcage you really don't need it anyway..." - Shirley St. James

:: Saturday, June 26, 2004 ::

Security Update: Download.ject Trojan

Slate's Clive Thompson has a nice article on Internet Security and reminds us that spyware problems, virus propagation and worms are largely OUR responsibility. Although I am by no means an expert, I do scan my computer regularly for pests, viruses and spyware. I use Zone Alarm Pro for my firewall, Spybot Search and Destroy and PestPatrol for routine clean-up and HijackThis for closer inspection. Also, Microsoft security patches should be downloaded regularly. If you have a suspected virus problem, Symantec provides free, downloadable virus fixes. All of these programs should be used cautiously, as you can remove some of the good stuff if you're not careful. Also, because these tools have similar functions, they can conflict with each other. For instance, Spybot can conflict with PestPatrol. When in doubt, hire a professional technician Geek.

TROJAN UPDATE: Here's a simple scan to detect the presence of "Download.ject" trojan (also known as:Also known as: JS/Exploit-DialogArg.b (McAfee), JS.Scob.Trojan (Symantec), Win32.Toofer, JScript/Toofer.Trojan) on your home computer (XP):

To determine if the malicious code is on your computer, search for the following files:

Kk32.dll
Surf.dat

Steps for Windows XP users:

On the taskbar at the bottom of your screen, click Start, and then click Search.

Under What do you want to search for? click All files and folders.

Under All or part of the file name:
type: Kk32.dll and then click the Search button.

Under All or part of the file name:
type: Surf.dat and then click the Search button.

If either of these files is present, your computer may be infected. You can find tools to clean your computer and obtain up-to-date antivirus protection from the following software vendors participating in the Microsoft Virus Information Alliance:

Symantec
F-Secure
Computer Associates

Microsoft security patch for Download.ject can be found here [>]

:: Max 11:38 AM [+] ::
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