BotVoice.A is easy to recognize, as once it is run, the following message is heard repeatedly:

You have been infected I repeat You have been infected and your system files has been deleted. Sorry. Have a Nice Day and bye bye

If you want to listen to the message that BotVoice.A is continuously repeating, click here. This happens because BotVoice.A is able to use the Windows Text-to-Speech (TTS) capabilities.

This Trojan that prevents users from working with the computer properly, as it does not allow the files with certain extensions from being run: BAT, COM, EXE and MP3 files, among others.

Additionally, it disables the Task Manager and the Windows Registry Editor.

BotVoice.A does not spread automatically using its own means. It needs an attacking user's intervention in order to reach the affected computer. The means of transmission used include, among others, floppy disks, CD-ROMs, email messages with attached files, Internet downloads, FTP, IRC channels, peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing networks, etc.

Technical details from this Panda Software page.

What is the the best Antivirus program ?

The latest test from virus.gr includes 52 different antivirus applications. They were rigorously tested using 174,770 virus samples, and the settings of each application were tweaked to ensure that they all caught maximum number of viruses (despite increasing the possibility that the the software would be more likely to return a false positive).

This is the list of the top 20 antivirus applications

1. Kaspersky version 7.0.0.43 beta - 99.23%
2. Kaspersky version 6.0.2.614 - 99.13%
3. Active Virus Shield by AOL version 6.0.0.308 - 99.13%
4. ZoneAlarm with KAV Antivirus version 7.0.337.000 - 99.13%
5. F-Secure 2007 version 7.01.128 - 98.56%
6. BitDefender Professional version 10 - 97.70%
7. BullGuard version 7.0.0.23 - 96.59%
8. Ashampoo version 1.30 - 95.80%
9. eScan version 8.0.671.1 - 94.43%
10. Nod32 version 2.70.32 - 94.00%
11. CyberScrub version 1.0 - 93.27%
12. Avast Professional version 4.7.986 - 92.82%
13. AVG Anti-Malware version 7.5.465 - 92.14%
14. F-Prot version 6.0.6.4 - 91.35%
15. McAfee Enterprise version 8.5.0i+AntiSpyware module - 90.65%
16. Panda 2007 version 2.01.00 - 90.06%
17. Norman version 5.90.37 - 88.47%
18. ArcaVir 2007 - 88.24%
19. McAfee version 11.0.213 - 86.13%
20. Norton Professional 2007 - 86.08%

Followed by:
21. Rising AV version 19.19.42 - 85.46%
22. Dr. Web version 4.33.2 - 85.09%
23. PC-Cillin 2007 version 15.00.1450 - 84.96%
24. Iolo version 1.1.8 - 83.35%
25. Virus Chaser version 5.0a - 79.51%
26. VBA32 version 3.11.4 - 77.66%
27. Sophos Sweep version 6.5.1 - 69.79%
28. ViRobot Expert version 5.0 - 69.53%
29. Antiy Ghostbusters version 5.2.1 - 65.95%
30. Zondex Guard version 5.4.2 - 63.79%
31. Vexira 2006 version 5.002.62 - 60.07%
32. V3 Internet Security version 2007.04.21.00 - 55.09%
33. Comodo version 2.0.12.47 beta - 53.94%
34. Comodo version 1.1.0.3 - 53.39%
35. A-Squared Anti-Malware version 2.1 - 52.69%
36. Ikarus version 5.19 - 50.56%
37. Digital Patrol version 5.00.37 - 49.80%
38. ClamWin version 0.90.1 - 47.95%
39. Quick Heal version 9.00 - 38.64%
40. Solo version 5.1 build 5.7.3 - 34.52%
41. Protector Plus version 8.0.A02 - 33.13%
42. PcClear version 1.0.4.3 - 27.14%
43. AntiTrojan Shield version 2.1.0.14 - 20.25%
44. PC Door Guard version 4.2.0.35- 19.95%
45. Trojan Hunter version 4.6.930 - 19.20%
46. VirIT version 6.1.75 - 18.78%
47. E-Trust PestPatrol version 8.0.0.6 - 11.80%
48. Trojan Remover version 6.6.0 - 10.44%
49. The Cleaner version 4.2.4319 - 7.26%
50. True Sword version 4.2 - 2.20%
51. Hacker Eliminator version 1.2 - 1.43%
52. Abacre version 1.4 - 0.00%

• The test was made on 23 April-10 May 2007, using Windows XP Professional SP2 on a P4 3000 Mhz, 1024MB DDRAM.

• All programs tested had the latest versions, upgrades and updates and they were tested using their full scanning capabilities e.g. heuristics, full scan etc.

• The default settings of each program were not used, in order for each program to achieve its maximum detection rate. Because of this, there is a possibility for the tested programs to detect a few false positives.

• All programs were updated on 22 April 2007, between 10.00AM and 13.00PM GMT.

• The 174770 virus samples were chosen using VS2000 according to Kaspersky, F-Prot, Nod32, Dr.Web, BitDefender and McAfee antivirus programs. Each virus sample was unique by virus name, meaning that AT LEAST 1 antivirus program detected it as a new virus.

• ALL virus samples were unpacked and the only samples that were kept were the ones that were packed using external-dos-packers (that means not winzip, winrar, winace etc).

• The virus samples had the correct file extension using a special program (Renexts) and were unique, according to checksum32 filesize.

• Most "fake" virus samples were removed, as well as "garbage" files.

• The programs MKS_VIR , PER and IPArmor were not tested because there was no english demo version available.

• The programs Anti-Hacker Expert , Command , Extendia AVK , GDATA AVK , BOClean , UNA , VET and Freedom were not tested because there was no demo version available.

• Thorough mode was not used in VBA32 due to extremely slow scan process.

• A-Squared Anti-Malware and eTrust PestPatrol are anti-trojan/anti-spyware programs, not antivirus programs

• F-Prot was tested using its command line scanner (options /adware /applications /report /streams /maxdepth=4 /heurlevel=4) because its GUI kept crashing.

• Windows Live OneCare, BKAV, PC Tools kept crashing while scanning the samples.

• TheShield uses the exact same engine as VirobotExpert.

• Avira uses the exact same engine as AntiVir.

• Fire uses the exact same engine as Solo.

• MKS_VIR uses the exact same engine as ArcaVir.

• VirusBuster uses the exact same engine as Vexira.

• BullGuard uses the exact same engine as BitDefender free edition.

• Avast Professional uses the exact same engine as Avast free edition.

• AVG Anti-Malware uses the exact same engine as AVG Antivirus free edition plus the Ewido scan engine, so it has better detection than AVG Antivirus free edition. (More information here )

• A-squared Anti-Malware Professional uses the exact same engine as A-squared free edition.

• InVircible did not include a "typical" scanner-function and could not be tested.

• V-Catch checks only mail accounts and could not be tested.

• DOS-Based scanners were not tested.

• The following file types were used: SH, ELF, COM, EXE, PL, BAT, PRC, DOC, XLS, BIN, MDB, IMG, PPT, VBS, MSG, VBA, OLE, HTM, INI, SMM, TD0, REG, CLASS, HTA, JS, VI_, URL, PHP, WMF, HLP, XML, SCR, PIF, SHS, WBT, CSC, MAC, DAT, CLS, STI, INF, HQX, XMI, SIT.

.

The laser printer you're using in everyday life could become a tool for surveillance. US government has succeeded in persuading some manufacturers to encode each page with identifying information that could be used to identify a laser printer (and potentially its owner).

This is an image of a portion of a laser printed page (60x microscope magnification). Where there should be only a white non printed space you can find some printed dot instead. These dots can give informations about date, time, and printer serial number of a laser printed sheet.

Yet there are no laws to stop the Secret Service from using printer codes to secretly trace the origin of documents; only the privacy policy of your printer manufacturer currently protects you (if indeed such a policy exists). And no law regulates what sort of documents the Secret Service or any other domestic or foreign government agency is permitted to request for identification, not to mention how such a forensics tool could be developed and implemented in printers in the first place; but you can take a look to this list (source: EFF) of printers which leave tracking dots:

Brother
HL-2700CN
HL-4200CN
Canon
CLC 1000
CLC 3002
CLC 4000
CLC 5000+
CLC-iR 3200-C1
Color imageRUNNER C2570
Color imageRUNNER C3100CN
Color imageRUNNER C3200
Color imageRUNNER C3200N
Color imageRUNNER C3220
Color Laser Copier 1150
Imageclass MF8170C
Dell
3000CN
3100CN
5100CN
Epson
AcuLaser C900
AcuLaser C1100
AcuLaser C1500
AcuLaser C1900
AcuLaser C3000
AcuLaser C4000
Hewlett-Packard
Color LaserJET 1550L
Color LaserJET 2500
Color LaserJET 2500N
Color LaserJET 2550
Color LaserJET 2550L
Color LaserJET 2550N
Color LaserJET 2600N
Color LaserJET 2680
Color LaserJET 2840
Color LaserJET 3500
Color LaserJET 3550
Color LaserJET 3600DN
Color LaserJET 3700
Color LaserJET 3700DN
Color LaserJET 3700N
Color LaserJET 4600
Color LaserJET 4600DN
Color LaserJET 4600HDN
Color LaserJET 4600N
Color LaserJET 4650
Color LaserJET 4650DN
Color LaserJET 4650DTN
Color LaserJET 5100CN
Color LaserJET 5500
Color LaserJET 5500ATN
Color LaserJET 5500DN
Color LaserJET 5500HDN
Color LaserJET 5550
Color LaserJET 5550DN
Color LaserJET 5550DTN
Color LaserJET 9500
Color LaserJET 9500HDN
Color LaserJET 9500MFP IBM
Infoprint Color 1464 PS3
Konica
Bizhub C350
Colorforce 1501
Colorforce 8050
Ikon CPP500E
Magicolor 2200 DL
Magicolor 2210
Magicolor 2300 DL
Magicolor 2300 W
Magicolor 2350
Magicolor 2350 EN
Magicolor 2400 W
Magicolor 2430 DL
Magicolor 2450
Magicolor 3100
Magicolor 3300
Magicolor 5450
Magicolor 7300
Kyocera
FS-C5016N
FS-C5030N
FS-C8008
Mita KM-C2230
Lanier
LD238C
LP125CX/LP126CN
Lexmark
C510
C752
C752N
C760
C910
C912
Panasonic
Workio KXCL-500
Ricoh
Aficio 1224C
Aficio 1232C
Aficio CL 2000
Aficio CL 3000
Aficio CL 3000E
Aficio CL 6010
Aficio CL 7000
AP 206
Infotec/Danka ISC 2838
Savin
C3210
CLP35
Toshiba
eStudio 210c
eStudio 211c
eStudio 310c
eStudio 311c
eStudio 2100c
eStudio 3100c
eStudio 3511
FC15
FC15i
FC22
FC22i
FC25P
FC25Pi
FC70
Xerox
DocuColor 12
DocuColor 40
DocuColor 1521
DocuColor 1632
DocuColor 2000
DocuColor 2045
DocuColor 2240
DocuColor 3535
DocuColor 6060
WorkCentre M24
WorkCentre Pro (all models)

Carson City Council lost $450,000 from its general fund to hackers.

Treasurer Karen Avilla was being monitored by a key logger and the thief stole bank passwords.

The hackers wired $90,000 to a "Diego Smith" in North Carolina and $358,000 from the city's bank account to a bank in Kalamazoo.

Avilla saw the funds going and managed to freeze the transaction.

The treasurer said she is now determined to try to write legislation that could prevent this kind of computer piracy.

More in the LA Times, here.

Remember: Internet piggybacking (using Wi-fi connection without the owner's permission) is illegal almost all over the world. I suggest You to find a legal way to browse the Web.

I'm not referring to the use of the Internet by a customer of a hot-spot providing a Wi-fi access, such as a hotel or cafe. Many such locations provide wireless Internet service either with or without an extra charge.
I'm talking about many people leaving their Wi-Fi access-point unsecured (no password required to gain access to that network) allowing you to use it to surf the Internet.

There are two common reasons why Internet users have the motivation to piggyback:

• they can't afford a monthly subscription to an Internet service or they are regular subscribers to their own service, but they are away from home
• they do not have their own connection available at all or at an agreeable cost.
  Less often, a user will piggyback in order to mask illegal activity, such as downloading illegal material or to engage in identity theft. Thanks to these users the concern regarding the practice of piggyback is raising.

Once you start piggybacking and connect your computer to a Local Area Network by cable or using a Wireless connection you are revealing a lot of details of your computer. You may think that if someone isn't protecting their Wi-Fi connection, there's a good chance that they won't even realize you're stealing their connection and that they must not be very bright since didn't secure the network.

But now imagine that the user who is giving you the access calls a friend (more expert) to secure its network and to find out who is the "bad guy" that has stolen his bandwidth.
What can be discovered about you from a computer expert just using tools (like port scanners and packet sniffers) available on Internet ? The answer is: enough details that could take you to court (in case that the connection's owner decides to sue someone for "stealing bandwidth"):

• your Wireless card unique MAC address
• your computer name (you can discover it here)
• the name of the Windows user logged on
• if you left your Windows Administrator password blank (none) he/she can have total access to your hard disk. This also happens if you created a Windows user with administrative privileges but without setting its password
• if you decide to use this connection to buy something or to access your email account, your credit card number and your online passwords could be discovered too
• your windows serial number

So, how can i just piggyback and Relax ?

1. Don't use your computer wireless card, buy a USB Wireless Adapter and disable your internal Wi-fi card. Probably you have already read about changing the MAC address of your Wireless card. Don't do it.
   Buying a wireless USB card and leaving its MAC address unchanged makes you more "innocent": changing a Wi-fi card's MAC address could be seen as an astute and blamable behaviour to hide your identity.
2. Don't pay your equipment with credit card. Buying a USB Wireless Adapter with credit card creates a clear link between you and your Wi-fi card.
3. If you didn't pay your laptop computer with cash or you did register it with your real name to the manufacturer in order to activate the warranty you have to reinstall windows using a different serial number. There is a link between the Windows OEM Version you found pre-installed and your computer. With your Windows licence serial number it's possible to find out what is your computer serial number (and vice-versa).
4. If you can't surf without writing your password around, protect you against traffic analysis attacks surfing (anonymously but slowly) with TOR. You can download TorPack he re.
5. Don't use too much bandwidth downloading illegal material with P2P or Bittorrent

Click on the following link. If you don't see any message from your anti-virus software probably it's not working as it should !

www.techdo.com/download/eicar.com

This file isn't infected but it is made to trigger your security software. Try the test every-time you are in doubt about its efficiency.

Do you know the Anti-Phishing Working Group ?
The APWG is the global pan-industrial and law enforcement association focused on eliminating the fraud and identity theft that result from phishing, pharming and email spoofing of all types.

Report Phishing
Report phishing emails, pharming sites and crimeware to the Anti-Phishing Working Group and help stop this insidious threat to e-commerce. Click "Report Phishing" link below for instructions.

Quick background about phishing: What is Phishing and Pharming?
A phishing message arrives in your mailbox, pretending to be from a bank, or from websites such as eBay or Paypal. It directs you to a web page and asks you to enter your password or social security number to verify your identity, but the web page is not one actually associated with the bank; it's on some other server.
Phishing attacks use both social engineering and technical subterfuge to steal consumers' personal identity data and financial account credentials. Social-engineering schemes use 'spoofed' e-mails to lead consumers to counterfeit websites designed to trick recipients into divulging financial data such as credit card numbers, account usernames, passwords and social security numbers. Hijacking brand names of banks, e-retailers and credit card companies, phishers often convince recipients to respond. Technical subterfuge schemes plant crimeware onto PCs to steal credentials directly, often using Trojan keylogger spyware. Pharming crimeware misdirects users to fraudulent sites or proxy servers, typically through DNS hijacking or poisoning.

AOL released the most popular subject lines for spam that its users received. The top 10 list is based on spam reports forwarded to these teams by AOL members via use of the popular "Report Spam" button on AOL.

1. We carry the most popular medications (arthritis drug Vioxx appeared often).

2. You've been sent an Insta-Kiss! (phishing).

3. You Have 17 New Pictures(phishing).

4. STEAMY HOT LESBIAN ACTION LIVE ON CAMERA!

5. All orders are shipped from authorized locations (pertains to online medications).

6. 2005 Digital Cable Filters(claimed to unscramble digital cable channels).

7. F R E E 30 Second Pre-Qualification MORTGAGE Application.

8. HURRY HURRY Hot Stock on the RISE.

9. Sale PRICES ARE BEST ONLINE!

10. Breaking news on the Top Pick stock.

22% of users spend less time on e-mail because of spam
53% of adult e-mail users in the United States now say they trust e-mail less because of spam, down from 62% a year ago and about the same as a June 2003, according to Pew Internet and American Life Project. 22% of e-mail users say they are spending less time on e-mail because of spam, down from 29% last year. In 2003, it was 25%.