If you receive an e-mail offering a download of Internet Explorer 7 Beta 2, delete it. A new virus is making the rounds that comes disguised as a test version of Microsoft current Web browser.
Security experts reported no widespread damage Friday morning, but they said the virus is notable for a couple of reasons. The e-mail includes a convincing graphic that looks like it could really be from Microsoft, and the virus is delivered when recipients click on a link rather than in an attachment, which makes it harder to stop it from reaching in-boxes.
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Two hits on this Thursday
I got two hits on the IE7.0 Beta 2 in my inbox as of Thursday. I forwarded the message to as well as to the carriers for the two servers listed in the links.
By the time I started my forensic analysis one of the sites had already been taken down, but the other on the People PC network was still active. Both of the links were directly to "IE70.exe", no respected vendor would ever do this, but link to a download site.
Secondly the links were to raw IP addresses and not to DNS names, another no-no.
Linking a .gif to a diffent site than the one that is included in the picture is a major phishing tactic that has been used over and over again, resently for Fifth-Third and Bank of America.
I've also gotten Chase, Sears, Walmart and BB&T hits using the same type of redirects.
I get more than my share of this type of message because I work in IT Security, and so permit almost everything through my primary ISP and Email filters, but have extensive rules associated with junk mail. That permits me to view the raw text format of the message, thus eliminating the html, activeX and other exposures associated with most web and email based attacks. One of the ways I do this is that when I provide an email address to a vendor, I use a "public" address that automatically puts all of the traffic into the Junk folder. Upon review I can vet some of these messages as legitimate and set rules for them.
Just about any upgrade, or "security" information that you get in e-mail that gives you a link should be suspect. Never use the e-mail links, but go through the primary site supposedly affected to search for any real updates. Even then, be aware that if the link information includes a redirect statement, the vendors systems may be compromised.
Microsoft IE7
I thought IE7 was the virus. It has killed quite a few PCs!
Microsoft IE7
This is not a discussion about IE7, but about phishing utilizing E-Mail.
Your perspective of something "Killing" a PC is less than the "user permissions" that have killed PCs and infrastructures.
If you are in an environment that IE7 "killed" systems, look at your environmnet, not MS/IE7.
Gerritt
new virus
I have the IE 7 virus right now in my laptop. Mc fee is doing nothing to remove it. I am stuck there is nothing I can do