Computer Virus Spews Right-Wing Spam

[RedEarth]

computer virus spewed neo-Nazi-tinged spam in English and German into inboxes over the weekend. The virus, first spotted on Thursday, sends out a blast of e-mail to addresses found on infected PCs.


Most of these messages contain links to news stories with content that "smells of right-wing political rhetoric," said Vincent Gullotto, vice president of McAfee Inc.'s antivirus emergency response team. But a small percentage contain links to a Web site that tries to infect visiting machines with the virus, he said.


Among the many messages was one with the German subject line "60 Years of Freedom: Who's Celebrating?" referencing the end of World War II. Another read: "Honorable Action" and contained a link to the Web site of the NPD, Germany's right-wing nationalist political party. One in English carried the subject: "Dresden Bombing Is To Be Regretted Enormously," referring to the Allied attack on the German city during World War II.

Other messages warned of ethnic Mafia groups and the increase in foreigners attending German schools.


The virus, called "Sober.q" by McAfee, is the 16th variant in the Germany-oriented Sober virus family that first appeared on the Internet in October 2003. Unlike earlier Sober viruses, this version isn't packaged inside an email attachment. Rather, it's being distributed by a Web site that automatically updates computers infected with the earlier, highly successful "Sober.p" variant, which began spreading on May 2

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/n/a/2005/05/16/financial/f144316D80.DTL&type=printable

[Name removed]

1. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

2. I was in my lawyer's office today and he asked about his "Dresden" e-mails

...and I guessed this one pretty accurately. I e-mailed him a copy of the SFGate article, so thank you for posting this.

He's got ZoneAlarm Pro and Norton AntiVirus and is smart enough to not open any suspicious e-mail or attachments, but it sure is a pain in the arse to receive this stuff in the first place.

:toast:

[PurityOfEssence]

3. How appropriate: only an asshole would create or spread a computer virus

Just another reassuring confirmation of the dark, selfish and mean side of the human character. For all the joys of human accomplishment and the great social benefits of the internet, we're all having to spend time dealing with cyberspace vandalism. It certainly follows that malicious and selfish types (I like to call them "conservatives") would be engaging in disruption like this.

[Lori Price CLG]

4. Oh, I thought it was a Faux Newsletter. n/t