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Malware Attack on Skype

I’m used to Skype Spam, but not a malvare-attack.  Here’s what just popped up on my Skype screen:

Registry Online: URGENT SYSTEM SCAN NOTIFICATION ! PLEASE READ CAREFULLY !!

http://www.updategt.org/

For the link to become active, please click on ‘Add to contacts’ skype button or type it in manually into your web browser !

FULL DETAILS OF SCAN RESULT BELOW
****************************************

WINDOWS REQUIRES IMMEDIATE ATTENTION

ATTENTION ! Security Center has detected
malware on your computer !

Affected Software:

Microsoft Windows Vista
Microsoft Windows XP
Microsoft Windows 2000
Microsoft Windows Server 2003

Impact of Vulnerability: Remote Code Execution / Virus Infection /
Unexpected shutdowns

Recommendation: Users running vulnerable version should install a repair utility immediately

Your system IS affected, download the patch from the address below !
Failure to do so may result in severe computer malfunction.

http://www.updategt.org/

For the link to become active, please click on ‘Add to contacts’ skype button or type it in manually into your web browser!

Now, I don’t ever click on suspicious links (I bet this is a rogue one) from unknown sources, but I’m afraid people might fall for it.  Also, how come Skype allows strande IM’s through when my security setting is “Contacts only” ?   And of course if you’re not careful enough and follow the request to add the scammer as a contact, then they will get through even easier next time.   Beware: don’t click, Block and Report the sender!

(Cross-posted @ CloudAve )

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The Entire Web is Unsafe to Browse, Says Google

Chances are you got scared away from visiting a webpage this morning by Google’s malware warning:

Warning – visiting this web site may harm your computer!

Suggestions:

Or you can continue to http://www.google.com/ at your own risk. For detailed information about the problems we found, visit Google’s Safe Browsing diagnostic page for this site.
For more information about how to protect yourself from harmful software online, you can visit StopBadware.org.
If you are the owner of this web site, you can request a review of your site using Google’s Webmaster Tools. More information about the review process is available in Google’s Webmaster Help Center.

Don’t worry, there’s nothing wrong with the site you are looking for.  Google give false warnings on ANY site today, including their own.  Here’s the Google search result for the keyword Google:

If you try to click on the diagnostic page, you get a Server Error.  So go ahead, ignore the warnings – or perhaps limit your browsing to “known territories” until the error gets fixed.

(Cross-posted from CloudAve. To stay on top of Cloud Computing news, analysis and just our opinion, grab the CloudAve Feed here.)

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I’m Broadcasting Over the Comcast Cap – This Can’t Be Good

Since Comcast is about to cap monthly traffic at 250G per month, I thought I would check my monthly stats.  Little did I expect that I am already exceeding this limit… but what’s scary  is that it’s outbound traffic, not inbound.

This can’t be good – I probably have some malware sitting on my machine.  Neither McAfee nor Spybot S&D finds anything… if you have ideas, pls. comment below.  Thanks in advance – I guess this is my first crowdsourced problem resolution. smile_sad

Update (9/21) Lots of good advice in the comments. I tried another pacakage, highly advised by several.. only to find a thread by the author, acknowledging it does not properly measure usage under Vista.  Crap.  I am not too worried though: my router shows way higher download traffic than upload, which is the “normal” user profile.  It’s in packets though, not Gigs.   Why does it have to be my pain though?  Comcast shoud not introduce the bandwidth cap without providing a measurement tool.