I believe I mentioned something to this effect over a year ago.
/CF
In article <1096091095.SNSeiEr+78YAmHymJyn9yQ@teranews>,
says...
> REDMOND, Wash. -
> It's one thing to say a particular image bugs you, but it's something else
> again for someone to take it a little too literally: Hackers are believed
> closer to figuring out how to spread computer viruses just by getting you to
> open an e-mail or visit a Website that includes a contaminated .jpeg image.
>
> Several computer security experts are warning that a new security flaw in
> Microsoft Windows XP and Server 2003 is prone to new tools the hacker world
> is developing to take control of people's computers - a flaw in the computer
> code that displays .jpeg image files, through which hackers embed viruses
> into digital photographs the minute you visit an infected Website or open a
> specially-designed e-mail.
>
> Microsoft identified the flaw a week ago and has since issued a patch for
> it, but this isolates a shift in how security experts are urging less
> tech-savvy Netizens to stay safe, according to several reports. "We always
> said there's no way you can be infected [with a computer virus] just by
> looking at a photograph online, but now it looks like we may have to eat our
> words on that," said SANS Internet Storm Center and former White House
> cyberspace security advisor Marcus Sachs to reporters. "This year we've seen
> a lot of changes to the fundamental ways we thought we were secure."
>
> TruSecure Corp. chief scientist Russ Cooper believes it's pretty likely
> you'll see one or another kind of malicious code target the Microsoft flaw
> "very soon. The security hole is just too attractive for the bad guys to
> pass up."
>
> The Washington Post said this kind of malware infection could "give new life
> to a kind of Internet threat that so far has been the stuff of myths and
> hoaxes. For years, Internet chain letters have warned users to be on the
> lookout for viruses or worms that can wreak digital havoc just by getting
> people to open an e-mail message. In reality, most viruses arrive as e-mail
> attachments and do not activate unless the user opens the attachment."
>
> Cooper said most companies don't really see digital images as virus threats
> and usually let them pass undisrupted through corporate firewalls, but the
> Post said security experts' fears stem from a big change in how fast virus
> writers jump on discovered vulnerabilities to take over home and business
> computers alike. Norton AntiVirus makers Symantec earlier this week issued a
> six-month analysis saying it is now less than six days between the
> announcement of a software flaw and the arrival of malware aimed at
> exploiting it.
>
>
>
--
Colonel Flagg
http://www.internetwarzone.org/
Privacy at a click:
http://www.cotse.net
Q: How many Bill Gates does it take to change a lightbulb?
A: None, he just defines Darkness? as the new industry standard..."
"...I see stupid people."
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