Fake Obama Victory E-Mail Contains Computer Virus

While Barack Obama's election to the office of President has been cause for plenty of Internet celebration, it has also -- indirectly -- been the cause of strife for some Internet users due to a malware attack using the President-Elect's name, Sophos.com investigates.
Sophos investigators have uncovered numerous spam e-mail campaigns baiting potential victims with promises of Obama's acceptance speech footage and election results. Generally, these malicious pages will prompt viewers to download viruses disguised as video players, or other such programs.
Identifying the malware as the type known both as Mal/Behav-027 and Mal/Heuri-E, the folks at Sophos promise to continue monitoring its development and issue warnings accordingly. How to protect yourself? Well, for one thing, be wary clicking on any random links in e-mails, and make sure your anti-virus software is up-to-date. (AVG Anti-Virus offers a free version of itself that's quite good!) [From: Sophos.com]
Related Links:
- Fake Obama Sex Video Contains Computer Virus
- Watch Out: Fake News Phishing E-Mails Are Getting More Official-Looking
- E-Mail Spammers Using Fake News for Scams





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Comments
16
Subscribe to commentsFrank PaolinoNov 6th 2008 4:44PM
The attackers wasted no time on this virus flood. The election ended November 4 at 11 PM EST. This "headline spam" attack started on our servers the next day. I am sure a "McCain" attack was also queued up in case he won. The spammers are probably agnostic on the topic of American politics. They only wanted any famous person for the headline.
http://blog.maysoft.org/blog.nsf/d6plinks/FPAO-7L5J9B
pjb043Nov 7th 2008 8:06AM
if the president would like the support of all americans the first official act should be to have the fbi investigate the origin of this virus and prosecute to the max. also identifying all concerned so anyone subjected to this virus can take some sort of civil action. this would get my support.
JOAN C FREDANov 7th 2008 8:38AM
FMI.
need some info. i have the norton 360 antivirus package, which i like. however, was told that avg is not compatible with it. this was told to me by norton (of course). i need to know...is it indeed compatible??? i had the avg but deleted it in favor of norton. would the two programs conflict and mess up my pc. no one can give me an answer. perhaps someone with more pc savvy than i can answer ........thanx
CCNov 7th 2008 10:20AM
Do you realize what it would take to have the FBI investigate one person that sent a computer virus? If you have ever taken Criminal Justice, you would understand that no offense to people that get the viruses (believe me...I have gotten a few myself) it would cost too much to find, the person that started the virus because usually they use a fake or stolen URL and then, they close down when they are done with the virus. Then, to e-mail every person that has an e-mail address to let them know that there is a virus out there would just be insane...they have more important things to worry about than whether or not someone has virus control on their computers.
Please understand, I am not trying to be a witch with a "b" at the beginning or being condescending to you. I am just saying how I know these little things. You have a right to feel how you do. Just because my opinion is different, doesn't necessarily mean mine is correct and yours is wrong or vice versa...just that we are individuals with different ideas.
Take care. :)
porseNov 7th 2008 9:48AM
the hate, fear in america has no boundarys, they go to any extend to hate and do these things, pathetic. I will NEVER open any e-mail that
comes from any source other than my own friends and i have told them no chain will be accepted, just there own writing.
Kevin GuthrieNov 7th 2008 10:24AM
To JOAN C FREDA , you should never run 2 antivirus programs as they could cause problems with each other and potentially crash your PC. And this also goes to running 2 antispyware programs as well.
Pick one program you feel most comfortable with or your PC can handle(AVG is very good.)
JOAN C FREDANov 8th 2008 1:09PM
to kevin....thanx darlin'...that's all i needed to know...you've been very helpful and sweet to reply so quickly............. have a good day!!
GaryNov 7th 2008 11:02AM
If you own stock or have money in the bank I suggest you take your money now. There is clear evidence that we are about to go into a depression similar to 1929. If you wairt too long and the market crashes you will lose all money that is not actually in your hand. I just sold my stock and will hold the cash for when it is needed. I also cashed in my C D's at the bank.
KYAnt-ViTechNov 7th 2008 11:19AM
It can't be said enough: don't download attachments or embedded files claiming to be a certain program. Go to YouTube for videos. Download programs from the manufacturer. TURN OFF OUTLOOK; it donloads files along with the emails it retreives and is the Number 2 method of infection for most home uses (right behind "dirty" websites and music downloads; tied). Stay off of Kazaa, ShareBear (or whatever it's calling itself these days), and Napster - if they charge it's only cause the Feds say they have to. They do not Virus proof the files. Given what it costs to repair to a sick machine it's cheaper to just buy the bloody CD or borrow it from a friend.
You can have multiple anti-malware's loaded, but only have ONE runnig in real time as they will fight. Personally I have AVG Free 8.0, MalwareBytes AntiMalware (up-and-comming competition to McA and Symantec; listed as shareware, but the free version has a nifty scanner), Spybot S+D, AdAware 2008, CCleaner, Advanced Windows Care, and C and registry defrag utilities from Auslogics. XP Home SP 2 IE 7 and the WIN firewall on DSL and I have to yet to get bit (I overrode the SP3 update, it's got too many problems just yet). My AVG is my primary - real-time enabled with auto updates. All the others are manual update and manual scan and the only one that needs AVG off to be thorough is MBAM. Update weekly, scan monthly. Always green ;) If Norton's (or McAfee for that matter) is a paid account then keep it until expiration, but all mine are available as freeware from the manufacturers. You can also find most of them at http://www.majorgeeks.com and usually on the Top 10 list at bottom left margin (the link to AAW2008 tends to be goofy so go to http://www.lavasoft.com to get that).
Note: it is actually recommended to have multiple AV LOADED as they each catch some the others tend to miss, just run only ONE in real-time. Spybot S+D and AWC have innoculators as well and AWC also has system utilities and a registry scrubber. Remember too: there IS a difference between spyware and adware; hence having both Spybot and AAW.
Hope this helps! Good luck!!
Zlob: the Anti-malware agents' Public Enemy #1
Vundo/Virtumonde: Zlob's cousin, Enemy #2
"Leave the FBI out of it; it's the CIA thats charged with stopping the cyber-terrorism known as malware."
DeniseNov 7th 2008 1:12PM
Simple solution......GET A MAC!
ChrisNov 7th 2008 1:48PM
Antichrist goes about his business by speaking the lie. II Thessalonians 2 says that he comes "with all deceivableness of unrighteousness." Revelation 13:12 says, "and he spoke as a dragon...." Revelation 17 tells us that he was a false prophet, a prophet being one whose calling it is to speak and to teach. The armies of the world may have guns and tanks and bombs to bring people into submission; but the power of speech and ideas is a mighty power. In his initial attempts to destroy the cause of God, the devil used a serpent to deceive the woman with crooked speech: "You will be like God." Now he uses a "dragon" who speaks crafty, lying words. His speeches will be heard by millions who will hang on his persuasive rhetoric. The content as well as the form of his speech will attract. Like most false prophets, he will even be sincere and passionate. But he is a liar. He adds dashes of truth to the mix, so that his lie tastes like truth. He will use all the right catchwords, using the language of the church, even throwing in a Bible text or two. But he is the ultimate Liar, and will deceive many.
He will use every tool available: school teachers, politicians, news broadcasters, artists, musicians, scientists and doctors, lawyers and businessmen. All will be pressed into the service of Antichrist to deceive men. But especially he will use those whose calling it is to persuade and to teach -- men who claim to be preachers of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
What is this message that has such power to deceive? What is it that is preached by the now-apostate churches once rooted in true Christianity, that stirs up mankind to this ecumenical worship? What gospel will attract the hordes of men and women? What good news will knit the souls of such diverse peoples and nations and tongues?
The gospel of Antichrist is humanism -- the happiness of man, the glory of man, the peace and prosperity, the health and wealth of man. The number of the beast, do not forget, is 6-6-6, the number of man.
Arn LewisNov 7th 2008 2:13PM
Speaking of viruses, there is a member here at switched that goes by the sign in name "Brad" who is posting links to a virus on several aol message boards. The links are to videos that request a Activex update to view, that update is really a virus. Never click on any links on aol posted by someone named Brad. And I hope "Switched" catches on to this and deletes his account and prosecutes him for using switched to pass on a virus.
rbrock4067Nov 7th 2008 3:00PM
It's difficult to comprehend the level of stupidity that these boards display. And the new leader of the pack is Gary. Are you really so ignorant that you do not understand contemporary economics? No, dim bulb...there will not be a repeat of 1929 and your lame advice to pull all monies out of financial institutions is beyond stupid !! FDIC protection exists to eliminate scare tactic notions from people as dumb as you. I suggest you sell your computer and go crawl under a rock so that your misguided advice will no longer poison the internet.
henry lideNov 8th 2008 1:10PM
what is the source of this photo?
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