Baptiststandard.com victim of virus attack

Posted: 2/17/04

Baptiststandard.com victim of virus attack

Hundreds of subscribers to the Standard's FirstLook newsletter received a flood of virus-generated e-mails Feb. 16-17. According to webmaster John Rutledge the immediate problem has been stopped, and stringent security measures are being put in place to stop any future outbreaks.

The Standard is moving it's website this week to a dedicated server, with more security controls and improved antivirus and spam blockers.

"We apologize for the inconvenience this caused our readers," Rutledge said. The e-mails initially contained a version of the "lovelorn virus" with attachments named "binladen_sexy.jpg" or "kiss.ok.exe."

Virus- tracking websites describe the Lovelorn virus as a mass-mailer virus with password-stealing routines, which activates on certain dates. The virus was last seen widely in April of 2003. It grabs random e-mail addresses from computers and places them in the To: and From: lines in an e-mail, then attaches itself to a random message it also has stolen.

"As far as we can ascertain, the virus captured the e-mail addresses of our newsletter list," Rutledge said. "Not only that, the server itself was compromised, and whenever someone e-mailed to complain about getting the bogus attachments, the message went to everyone on the list. That started an exponential cascade of e-mail that shut down our whole server, and many others," Rutledge said.

For those who received the initial virus-carrying e-mails, instructions on how to clean your computer of the virus can be found at http://vil.nai.com/vil/content/v_100272.htm or at the Symantec antivirus site at http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/w32.nolor@mm.html.

Although the old newsletter list was compromised, the current one is secure. The FirstLook newsletter will be sent out as usual to our current subscriber list .