Re: Ripping DVDs. Please answer the attached question. - Question.txt

"pilgrim" wrote in alt.video.dvd:
>begin 644 Question.txt
>M22!H879E(&$@1%9$(&]F(")287DN(B`@5VAE;B!)('!L87D@:70@=&AE(&UE
>M;G4@9VEV97,@82!C:&]I8V4@;V8@(D5X=&5N9&5D(%!L87DB('9E<G-U<R`B

Nice try.

On the off change that you're _not_ posting malware, please try
again in plain text.

--

Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Tompkins County, New York, USA
http://OakRoadSystems.com/

Stan Brown

Stan Brown wrote:

> "pilgrim" wrote in alt.video.dvd:
>
>>begin 644 Question.txt
>>M22!H879E(&$@1%9$(&]F(")287DN(B`@5VAE;B!)('!L87D@:70@=&AE(&UE
>>M;G4@9VEV97,@82!C:&]I8V4@;V8@(D5X=&5N9&5D(%!L87DB('9E<G-U<R`B
>
>
> Nice try.
>
> On the off change that you're _not_ posting malware, please try
> again in plain text.

Just out of curiousity, what have you uncovered about pilgrim's
post? How is it that one spreads malware in a newsgroup post
(aside from the obvious, attaching an exectuable or something)?

JB

Joe Blow

"Joe Blow" wrote in alt.video.dvd:
>Just out of curiousity, what have you uncovered about pilgrim's
>post? How is it that one spreads malware in a newsgroup post
>(aside from the obvious, attaching an exectuable or something)?

Precisely. In the Windows world, the extension ".txt" is no longer
a guarantee that the binary file -- which in any event should not
be posted to a non-binaies group like a.v.d -- isn't an executable.

--

Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Tompkins County, New York, USA
http://OakRoadSystems.com/

Stan Brown

Stan Brown wrote:
> "Joe Blow" wrote in alt.video.dvd:
>> Just out of curiousity, what have you uncovered about pilgrim's
>> post? How is it that one spreads malware in a newsgroup post
>> (aside from the obvious, attaching an exectuable or something)?
>
> Precisely. In the Windows world, the extension ".txt" is no longer
> a guarantee that the binary file -- which in any event should not
> be posted to a non-binaies group like a.v.d -- isn't an executable.

I'm puzzled. If a file has a .txt suffix, won't it _only_ open in Notepad -
or whatever you have as your default for reading text files? I'm not
arguing - I just don't understand. Surely you'd have to *rename* it with a
different suffix in order to get it to act as anything but a text file?

paul

P Pron

"P Pron" <> wrote in message
news:...
> Stan Brown wrote:
> > "Joe Blow" wrote in alt.video.dvd:
> >> Just out of curiousity, what have you uncovered about pilgrim's
> >> post? How is it that one spreads malware in a newsgroup post
> >> (aside from the obvious, attaching an exectuable or something)?
> >
> > Precisely. In the Windows world, the extension ".txt" is no longer
> > a guarantee that the binary file -- which in any event should not
> > be posted to a non-binaies group like a.v.d -- isn't an executable.
>
> I'm puzzled. If a file has a .txt suffix, won't it _only_ open in
Notepad -
> or whatever you have as your default for reading text files? I'm not
> arguing - I just don't understand. Surely you'd have to *rename* it with a
> different suffix in order to get it to act as anything but a text file?
>
> paul
>
I have been caught like this. For instance you may have a *.txt file that
you think is a text file or even ( a more popular one is *.scr - screen
saver file) but in actual fact it is a *.txt.exe where the exe is hidden to
a casual view. These are nasty and you need to keep your virus scanner up
to date. I learned the hard way BTW once opened they can't be deleted
because they automatically un-delete and re-appear at next boot as a
completely different named file. If you think you have one of these
*nasties* do a search for " *.txt.exe or *.scr.exe" you may be surprised.

Regardless I just do not open anything that I think is suspect. Attachments
in a NG is one of them

Regards TT

TT

On Tue, 8 Feb 2005 01:26:11 -0500, Stan Brown
<> wrote:

>Precisely. In the Windows world, the extension ".txt" is no longer
>a guarantee that the binary file -- which in any event should not
>be posted to a non-binaies group like a.v.d -- isn't an executable.
__________________________________________________ _________

First I've heard of this. What's your source of information?

--
BT

Bill Turner

Bill Turner wrote:
> On Tue, 8 Feb 2005 01:26:11 -0500, Stan Brown
> <> wrote:
>
>
>>Precisely. In the Windows world, the extension ".txt" is no longer
>>a guarantee that the binary file -- which in any event should not
>>be posted to a non-binaies group like a.v.d -- isn't an executable.
>
> __________________________________________________ _________
>
> First I've heard of this. What's your source of information?
>
try the following. Take an executable file that's harmless, say
notepad.exe. mail it to yourself as an attachment. open the attachment
and you should see notepad. (NOte that I haven't actually tried this
but have been told that it works.) Now take that copy and rename it
NudeBrittany.jpg.exe for example and mail it to yourself as an
attachment. The name of the attachment will be NudeBrittany.jpg so you
have an executable which appears to not be an executable. Note that
this was a problem with outlook express about a year ago. I don't use
OE so I don't know if it's been fixed.

HTH

dick

Dick Sidbury

"P Pron" wrote in alt.video.dvd:

>I'm puzzled. If a file has a .txt suffix, won't it _only_ open in Notepad -
>or whatever you have as your default for reading text files? I'm not
>arguing - I just don't understand. Surely you'd have to *rename* it with a
>different suffix in order to get it to act as anything but a text file?

This is OT for this group, atd it's at or beyond the limits of my
expertise anyway, but here goes:

(1) In mail, an attachment can look like a .txt extension but
actually have .pif or .exe or .dll or something else executable.
That's why mail is an even bigger worry than Usenet.

(2) You're right that a .txt file will almost certainly open in
Notepad if double clicked, just as a .gif or .jpg file will almost
certainly open in an image editor if double clicked. But I read
recently about an exploit involving buffer overruns in images that
make least some image editors execute unwanted instructions. It's
only a matter of time till someone discovers and uses a similar
flaw in Notepad.

But the clincher, which is ON topic, is that this newsgroup doesn't
have "binaries" in its name and therefore articles are all supposed
to be in plain text, no attachments.

--

Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Tompkins County, New York, USA
http://OakRoadSystems.com/

Stan Brown

On Tue, 08 Feb 2005 08:55:58 -0500, Dick Sidbury
<> wrote:

>try the following. Take an executable file that's harmless, say
>notepad.exe. mail it to yourself as an attachment. open the attachment
>and you should see notepad. (NOte that I haven't actually tried this
>but have been told that it works.) Now take that copy and rename it
>NudeBrittany.jpg.exe for example and mail it to yourself as an
>attachment. The name of the attachment will be NudeBrittany.jpg so you
>have an executable which appears to not be an executable. Note that
>this was a problem with outlook express about a year ago. I don't use
>OE so I don't know if it's been fixed.

I deleted OE from my computer a long time ago.

Also, under Explorer I unchecked the option that says: "Hide file
extensions for known file types." (Tools / Folder Options / View tab)
I believe that by default, at least in Win98, it is checked. That way
a file called "whatever.txt.exe" will show up as "whatever.txt.exe"
and not "whatever.txt".

Still, that being said, I would never open any file posted to a
newsgroup by double clicking on it. If I was very curious then I would
use the File / Open option of Notepad.


-
-Jon Purkey - <)
For a quicker reply by email please use the
address found here: http://tinyurl.com/o8ka

Jon Purkey

Jon Purkey wrote:
> On Tue, 08 Feb 2005 08:55:58 -0500, Dick Sidbury
> <> wrote:
>
>> try the following. Take an executable file that's harmless, say
>> notepad.exe. mail it to yourself as an attachment. open the
>> attachment and you should see notepad. (NOte that I haven't
>> actually tried this but have been told that it works.) Now take
>> that copy and rename it NudeBrittany.jpg.exe for example and mail it
>> to yourself as an attachment. The name of the attachment will be
>> NudeBrittany.jpg so you have an executable which appears to not be
>> an executable. Note that this was a problem with outlook express
>> about a year ago. I don't use OE so I don't know if it's been fixed.
>
> I deleted OE from my computer a long time ago.
>
> Also, under Explorer I unchecked the option that says: "Hide file
> extensions for known file types." (Tools / Folder Options / View tab)
> I believe that by default, at least in Win98, it is checked. That way
> a file called "whatever.txt.exe" will show up as "whatever.txt.exe"
> and not "whatever.txt".
>
> Still, that being said, I would never open any file posted to a
> newsgroup by double clicking on it. If I was very curious then I would
> use the File / Open option of Notepad.
>
Thanks for that explanation - I'd completely forgotten that stupid "Hide
File Extensions...." thing. I unchecked it as well because I like to know
what I've got in my computer. Until you jogged my memory, the other
explanations were leaving me completely bewildered!

paul

P Pron