Well, It finally happened. A virus contained in an image

[Matt]

Traditionally viruses could not be contained in popular image file formats such as jpeg or gif. It seems to me that this is a .wmf exploit but I will have to read more.

It has been pretty much the rule of thumb that you were perfectly safe opening these sort of files in an email attachment. Well, if email is not your gig, just imagine viewing an infected web page. It could have the malicious image file displayed to your computer, and them BLAMMO, now your PC is infected simply by viewing a malicious site or infected page.

This exploit only seems to affect Windows based PCs. I have not researched much more on it other than this article, so I am not sure if it is affecting any web browser on windows like FireFox and Internet Explorer, or, if it only affects certain browsers.

I am also not sure of the image format (.jpg .jpeg .gif .png .bmp .etc) that this possible exploit is capable of running under.

If you have any comments feel free to post them.

I am not going to install antivirus on my PCs just yet. I refuse to run it. However if this thing goes on for a long time I might seriously reconsider.

If this thing gets in the wild before a patch is released it would/could be extremely devastating. I doubt Microsoft would allow this exploit to be executed for very long. However, it is an interesting thing to think that a simple image file could actually contain a virus.

Whats next?

Here is the original story

[SallyDP]

I thought that the websites were protected from those viruses! I never open anything that comes in an attatchment from someone I don't know. But to get into the website... wow! And just yesterday I downloaded FireFox. I have a Mac, and I rather use Safari as my browser, since Internet Explorer is not available anymore for Mac Users. I used it only last night and was rather disappointed. It is a lot slower than Safari. I haven't had any problems with Safari, and after reading this, I think I will not even open FireFox from now on!

[Angie]

What a dam nuiscance, looking at a web page only to discover a image on that page is causing a virus. If there is any more information on this I would like to know more.

[alexblink]

JPG format is the carrier of virus. PNG, GIF, BITMAP do not, those are safety formats

[Danny]

ghosh , this are all scam for the sale of online anti virus in the market

[alexblink]

Worse still, who creates a virus after selling anti virus

[iceman88]

Wow is all i could say. It's how sis it happen. Great minds for great use not the destructive ones. What's next...

[jmarcv]

Whats next iceman? You get banned if you keep putting spam links in your messages, like you did in one of your other posts. In fact, the 1 strike may be enough for Matt.

Anyone notice how spammers always post in 'threes'?

[admin]

There are no three strike rules here it is one strike and you are out. If you would like your posting privileges restored feel free to PM me.