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Thread: New Variant of Gpcode Found

  1. #1
    What's in a Name? Guest

    New Variant of Gpcode Found


    Has everyone heard about this one?

    From ZDNet
    "Virus analysts at Kaspersky Lab have intercepted a new variant of
    Gpcode, a malicious virus that encrypts important files on an infected
    desktop and demands payment for a key to recover the data."

    http://blogs.zdnet.com/security/?p=1251&tag=nl.e539

    max
    --
    Virus Removal http://max.shplink.com/removal.html
    I block all spam/googlegroupers-you can too!
    http://improve-usenet.org/index.html
    Change nomail.afraid.org to gmail.com to reply by email.

  2. #2
    David H. Lipman Guest

    Re: New Variant of Gpcode Found

    From: "What's in a Name?" <maxwachtel@nomail.afraid.org>

    |
    | Has everyone heard about this one?
    |
    | From ZDNet
    | "Virus analysts at Kaspersky Lab have intercepted a new variant of
    | Gpcode, a malicious virus that encrypts important files on an infected
    | desktop and demands payment for a key to recover the data."
    |
    | http://blogs.zdnet.com/security/?p=1251&tag=nl.e539
    |
    | max

    Yepper...

    My understanding is miscreants afre using Blog Spots to help spread this Trojan.


    --
    Dave
    http://www.claymania.com/removal-trojan-adware.html
    Multi-AV - http://www.pctipp.ch/downloads/dl/35905.asp



  3. #3
    VanguardLH Guest

    Re: New Variant of Gpcode Found

    "What's in a Name?" wrote in
    <news:484d77aa$0$3349$4c368faf@roadrunner.com>:

    > Has everyone heard about this one?
    >
    > From ZDNet
    > "Virus analysts at Kaspersky Lab have intercepted a new variant of
    > Gpcode, a malicious virus that encrypts important files on an infected
    > desktop and demands payment for a key to recover the data."
    >
    > http://blogs.zdnet.com/security/?p=1251&tag=nl.e539
    >
    > max



    NOTE: Inappropriate use of FollowUp-To header was ignored. Original
    list of newsgroups was used for this reply.


    --- Rant on inappropriate use of the FollowUp-To header ---

    Don't use the FollowUp-To header. Posting to, say, 3 newsgroups but
    moving replies to just 1 of them or to a completely different one means
    you disconnect the visitors of those other 2 (or 3) newsgroups from the
    rest of the discussion. If a newsgroup is appropriate for your post
    then it is also appropriate for the replies. Or, converserly, if the
    continued discussion of your post is not appropriate in all the
    newsgroups to which you cross-posted then you should not have posted to
    those other newsgroups in the first place. You are using the
    FollowUp-To header to move replies to YOUR "home" newsgroup but which
    the users of the other newsgroups may not visit. After all, if you
    cross-post and include your "home" newsgroup then you'll see all those
    replies in your home newsgroup and meanwhile all the other users can
    still see the replies in their newsgroup where you decided to also
    publish your post.

    In http://www.faqs.org/faqs/usenet/primer/part1/, it says, "For a
    cross-post, you may want to set the Followup-To: header line to the most
    suitable group for the rest of the discussion". Read another way, that
    means you disconnect the discussion from all the visitors of the other
    newsgroups to which you decided to publish your post. Why did you
    publish to those other newsgroups if you are going to yank the
    discussion away from those users and perhaps even from the respondents
    you were attempting to elicit? It is exasperating to post a reply and
    never see it in the newsgroup where you read the original post. If your
    post was appropriate for all the groups to which you cross-posted then
    why wouldn't those same groups be appropriate for the replies? To yank
    away the discussion to your "home" group is rude since that is probably
    not the "home" group for your respondents. You wanted replies which may
    require further replies but now your respondents no longer see the
    thread in the newsgroup that they visit to where you published your
    post. Also, the respondents may not know if their reply is appropriate
    in the "home" group that you happen to choose. In general, malcontents
    and spammers use the FollowUp-To header to hide negative replies to
    their flame or spam posts, often sending the replies off to a *.test
    newsgroup. Is that the company of users to which you want to be
    associated?

    There are some cases where FollowUp-To should be used. For example, say
    a newsgroup is supposed to only get used for citing the content of a
    spam e-mail. Discussions about that spam are not supposed to be
    published in that citing newsgroup. Just the exhibits are published
    there. If someone wants to discuss that particular spam, their replies
    should go into a different newsgroup meant for those discussions. I
    believe that is how some of the NANAE newsgroups operate but the
    principle may apply elsewhere; however, it is rare few newsgroups where
    FollowUp-To is appropriate. For the vast majority of newsgroups,
    FollowUp-To is *not* appropriate. If you do not want continue the
    discussion in the other newsgroups then don't cross-post over there to
    only then use FollowUp-To to yank away the continued discussion. If the
    discussion is not appropriate in those other newsgroups then it seems
    you have self-nominated your post to be off-topic and hence spam.

    If you do use the FollowUp-To header, you are expected per netiquette to
    alert the readers of your post that you used that header. Be polite and
    add a note (at the start of your post) saying that you used the header
    (ex., "WARNING: FollowUp-To was used and points to <newsgroup>". You
    might also want to explain why you consider any further discussion in
    the other newsgroups is inappropriate despite your rudeness in posting
    to those other newsgroups. Many times respondents wonder where their
    reply post went because they expect to see it in the group they visited
    and where they read your post. Not all NNTP clients alert the user that
    the poster used the FollowUp-To header. Think about it: you post to
    multiple newsgroups but yank the replies to a different newsgroup than
    where your respondents visited, then you need more help and reply to
    those replies but which are now only in your "home" newsgroup, but the
    respondents won't see their posts nor will they see your replies to them
    asking for more help. FollowUp-To is not required when you cross-post
    since your "home" newsgroup should be one those that were specified in
    the list of newsgroups. You'll watch the discussion in your home
    newsgroup and the respondents or lurkers can watch that same discussion
    in their own newsgroup. If you don't want replies to show up in all the
    newsgroups to which you cross-posted then don't cross-post over there in
    the first place!

    When crossposting, there are not multiple copies of your post that
    wastes bandwidth for each to get them propagated to other NNTP servers
    and there aren't multiple copies of your post consuming disk space. A
    single copy gets sent to the other NNTP servers and a single copy
    resides on each NNTP server with pointers to it to make it show up in
    multiple newsgroups. You aren't saving bandwidth or disk space by
    redirecting replies for a cross-posted message to a single newsgroup.
    You are just being rude to the visitors of the other newsgroups to which
    you cross-posted but tried to yank away the discussion.

    --- End of rant ---

  4. #4
    Dustin Cook Guest

    Re: New Variant of Gpcode Found

    What's in a Name? <maxwachtel@nomail.afraid.org> wrote in news:484d77aa$0
    $3349$4c368faf@roadrunner.com:

    > Has everyone heard about this one?
    >
    > From ZDNet
    > "Virus analysts at Kaspersky Lab have intercepted a new variant of
    > Gpcode, a malicious virus that encrypts important files on an infected
    > desktop and demands payment for a key to recover the data."
    >
    > http://blogs.zdnet.com/security/?p=1251&tag=nl.e539
    >
    > max


    I haven't seen this one, but this has been done before.....


    --
    Regards,
    Dustin Cook - http://bughunter.it-mate.co.uk
    BugHunter v2.2e AntiMalware Removal Utility


  5. #5
    What's in a Name? Guest

    Re: New Variant of Gpcode Found


    On 6/9/2008 7:17 PM, Dustin Cook after much thought,came up with this jewel:
    > What's in a Name? <maxwachtel@nomail.afraid.org> wrote in news:484d77aa$0
    > $3349$4c368faf@roadrunner.com:
    >
    >> Has everyone heard about this one?
    >>
    >> From ZDNet
    >> "Virus analysts at Kaspersky Lab have intercepted a new variant of
    >> Gpcode, a malicious virus that encrypts important files on an infected
    >> desktop and demands payment for a key to recover the data."
    >>
    >> http://blogs.zdnet.com/security/?p=1251&tag=nl.e539
    >>
    >> max

    >
    > I haven't seen this one, but this has been done before.....
    >
    >

    Seems that VXers have been busy the last 18 months. If this one starts
    spreading, only working backups can save you.
    --
    Virus Removal http://max.shplink.com/removal.html
    I block all spam/googlegroupers-you can too!
    http://improve-usenet.org/index.html
    Change nomail.afraid.org to gmail.com to reply by email.

  6. #6
    Rhonda Lea Kirk Fries Guest

    Re: New Variant of Gpcode Found

    VanguardLH wrote:
    > "What's in a Name?" wrote in
    > <news:484d77aa$0$3349$4c368faf@roadrunner.com>:
    >
    >> Has everyone heard about this one?
    >>
    >> From ZDNet
    >> "Virus analysts at Kaspersky Lab have intercepted a new variant of
    >> Gpcode, a malicious virus that encrypts important files on an
    >> infected desktop and demands payment for a key to recover the data."
    >>
    >> http://blogs.zdnet.com/security/?p=1251&tag=nl.e539
    >>
    >> max

    >
    >
    > NOTE: Inappropriate use of FollowUp-To header was ignored. Original
    > list of newsgroups was used for this reply.
    >
    >
    > --- Rant on inappropriate use of the FollowUp-To header ---
    >
    > Don't use the FollowUp-To header. Posting to, say, 3 newsgroups but
    > moving replies to just 1 of them or to a completely different one
    > means you disconnect the visitors of those other 2 (or 3) newsgroups
    > from the rest of the discussion. If a newsgroup is appropriate for
    > your post then it is also appropriate for the replies. Or,
    > converserly, if the continued discussion of your post is not
    > appropriate in all the newsgroups to which you cross-posted then you
    > should not have posted to those other newsgroups in the first place.
    > You are using the FollowUp-To header to move replies to YOUR "home"
    > newsgroup but which the users of the other newsgroups may not visit.
    > After all, if you cross-post and include your "home" newsgroup then
    > you'll see all those replies in your home newsgroup and meanwhile all
    > the other users can still see the replies in their newsgroup where
    > you decided to also publish your post.
    >
    > In http://www.faqs.org/faqs/usenet/primer/part1/, it says, "For a
    > cross-post, you may want to set the Followup-To: header line to the
    > most suitable group for the rest of the discussion".


    Exactly. He did the right thing.

    > Read another
    > way, that means you disconnect the discussion from all the visitors
    > of the other newsgroups to which you decided to publish your post.


    In your not-humble, ignorant opinion.

    <snipped evidence that Vanguard has way too much time on his hands and a
    boulder on his shoulder>

    You're a control freak.

    Now say something about my sig.

    --
    Rhonda Lea Kirk Fries

    If a man is offered a fact which goes against his instincts, he will
    scrutinize it closely, and unless the evidence is overwhelming, he will
    refuse to believe it. If, on the other hand, he is offered something
    which affords a reason for acting in accordance to his instincts, he
    will accept it even on the slightest evidence. The origin of myths is
    explained in this way. - Bertrand Russell



  7. #7
    James Egan Guest

    Re: New Variant of Gpcode Found


    On Tue, 10 Jun 2008 09:33:40 -0400, "Rhonda Lea Kirk Fries"
    <nimue@databasix.com> wrote:

    >> In http://www.faqs.org/faqs/usenet/primer/part1/, it says, "For a
    >> cross-post, you may want to set the Followup-To: header line to the
    >> most suitable group for the rest of the discussion".

    >
    >Exactly. He did the right thing.


    I agree with Mr Vanguard. The FAQ is wrong (if that's what it actually
    still says).



    Jim.


  8. #8
    Rhonda Lea Kirk Fries Guest

    Re: New Variant of Gpcode Found

    James Egan wrote:
    > On Tue, 10 Jun 2008 09:33:40 -0400, "Rhonda Lea Kirk Fries"
    > <nimue@databasix.com> wrote:
    >
    >>> In http://www.faqs.org/faqs/usenet/primer/part1/, it says, "For a
    >>> cross-post, you may want to set the Followup-To: header line to the
    >>> most suitable group for the rest of the discussion".

    >>
    >> Exactly. He did the right thing.

    >
    > I agree with Mr Vanguard. The FAQ is wrong (if that's what it actually
    > still says).


    http://www.cs.tut.fi/~jkorpela/usenet/xpost.html

    See the last paragraph.

    http://www.cybernothing.org/faqs/net-abuse-faq.html#2.3


    We just disagree on this. What Max did is still the standard, regardless
    of opinions to the contrary.

    --
    Rhonda Lea Kirk Fries

    If a man is offered a fact which goes against his instincts, he will
    scrutinize it closely, and unless the evidence is overwhelming, he will
    refuse to believe it. If, on the other hand, he is offered something
    which affords a reason for acting in accordance to his instincts, he
    will accept it even on the slightest evidence. The origin of myths is
    explained in this way. - Bertrand Russell



  9. #9
    VanguardLH Guest

    Re: New Variant of Gpcode Found

    "Rhonda Lea Kirk Fries" wrote in
    <news:g2lvnm$6lt$1@blackhelicopter.databasix.com >:

    > VanguardLH wrote:
    >
    >> NOTE: Inappropriate use of FollowUp-To header was ignored. Original
    >> list of newsgroups was used for this reply.
    >>
    >>
    >> --- Rant on inappropriate use of the FollowUp-To header ---
    >>
    >> Don't use the FollowUp-To header. Posting to, say, 3 newsgroups but
    >> moving replies to just 1 of them or to a completely different one
    >> means you disconnect the visitors of those other 2 (or 3) newsgroups
    >> from the rest of the discussion. If a newsgroup is appropriate for
    >> your post then it is also appropriate for the replies. Or,
    >> converserly, if the continued discussion of your post is not
    >> appropriate in all the newsgroups to which you cross-posted then you
    >> should not have posted to those other newsgroups in the first place.
    >> You are using the FollowUp-To header to move replies to YOUR "home"
    >> newsgroup but which the users of the other newsgroups may not visit.
    >> After all, if you cross-post and include your "home" newsgroup then
    >> you'll see all those replies in your home newsgroup and meanwhile all
    >> the other users can still see the replies in their newsgroup where
    >> you decided to also publish your post.
    >>
    >> In http://www.faqs.org/faqs/usenet/primer/part1/, it says, "For a
    >> cross-post, you may want to set the Followup-To: header line to the
    >> most suitable group for the rest of the discussion".

    >
    > Exactly. He did the right thing.
    >
    >> Read another
    >> way, that means you disconnect the discussion from all the visitors
    >> of the other newsgroups to which you decided to publish your post.

    >
    > In your not-humble, ignorant opinion.


    You can't even follow the logic, can you? What the hell do you think
    happens when the FollowUp-To header is used (and obeyed)?

    Those FAQs regurgitate netiquette that is over 20 years old and were
    based on NNTP clients actually notifying their users that a FollowUp-To
    header had been used or it could be seen in the console-mode NNTP client
    when it displayed the headers. Some NNTP clients will show the
    FollowUp-To header and some even alert that a post used it when you
    reply. Many NNTP clients provide no such information. Also, you will
    notice that those FAQs never qualify why they are recommending that
    behavior. They just regurgitate what they read somewhere else.

    If someone told you that you needed their fantastic memory
    defragmentation program without explaining why, would you actually get
    it despite that memory access is random, anyway?

    > You're a control freak.


    I didn't realize that I had such a huge virtual gun pointed at his and
    your heads that you considered my replies as anything other than a
    strong suggestion regarding netiquette. Obviously you're too lazy to
    figure out the logic in the use of that header and are some lemming that
    follows what someone wrote in a "FAQ". Okay, so continue being a
    lemming and follow my "FAQ". Duh! Like anyone can prevent you from
    making your own anarichal choices in Usenet, uh huh.

    Apparently you can't even figure out that you are spewing your own
    opinion regarding the use of this header. Gee, then you must be a
    control freak, too. (rolls eyes)

  10. #10
    VanguardLH Guest

    Re: New Variant of Gpcode Found

    "What's in a Name?" wrote in
    <news:484d77aa$0$3349$4c368faf@roadrunner.com>:

    > Has everyone heard about this one?
    >
    > From ZDNet
    > "Virus analysts at Kaspersky Lab have intercepted a new variant of
    > Gpcode, a malicious virus that encrypts important files on an infected
    > desktop and demands payment for a key to recover the data."
    >
    > http://blogs.zdnet.com/security/?p=1251&tag=nl.e539
    >
    > max


    NOTE: FollowUp-To ingored. Reply posted to original list of newsgroups.


    From a cursory scan of the articles and the ones to which is linked, and
    from the dearth of information provided there, the pest infilitrates a
    system and then encrypts files to hold them ransom until the user pays
    to get a utility to decrypt them. The pest itself is not encrypted (as
    something would have to unencrypted to decrypt it to run that executable
    but that that other program is the pest). So the pest itself would
    still be detectable even if morphed (since polymorphism for a large
    number of variants will vaporize when the program gets loaded into
    memory). So the anti-malware products could still alert on the pest
    based on signature and definitely on heuristics if loaded (by watching
    which apps use the crypto API).

    Maybe this threat will make some users realize that they really should
    be doing regular backups.

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