This new one is not spread from emails but though the internet. It started in Europe and is spreading at a rapid rate across the world as we all wake up and turn on our computers. Here is a blurb from the Rueters news service. > "If you take a normal Windows PC and connect to the Internet, you will > be infected in 10 minutes (without protection)," Mikko Hypponen, > Anti-Virus research director at Finnish data security firm F-Secure > <FSC1V.HE>, told Reuters. > > "It seems to be gradually getting worse, but it could jump as the U.S. > wakes up," he said. > > F-Secure says the worm, which surfaced over the weekend, automatically > spreads via the Internet to computers using the Microsoft <MSFT.O> > Windows operating system, especially Windows 2000 and XP. > > The spread of the virus has been muted so far, Hypponen said, as it > emerged on a weekend, and with holidays closing offices in places like > the United Kingdom and Japan on Monday. > > But the spread was expected to worsen as the work week hits its > stride, Hypponen said, adding he believes the worm originated in Russia. > Here is info about it from Norton's Symantic Security: http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/w32.sasser.b.worm.html There are two precautions you need to take to protect yourself from these types of attacks which seem to becoming prevalent. 1. Get regular updated patches from Microsoft at: http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com 2. Get a firewall program. Saturday night, I was warned by my ISP (SBC) of this coming threat. Yesterday, I was in San Francisco all day and when I got home late last night. I took care of my email and forgot about it. This morning I had another email from my ISP and at the time I was reading it, on the radio, they were reporting about the Sasser. So I stopped reading my mail and updated my Windows patches and finally bought a Norton Firewall ($50) and four hours later have all installed. One of the Window patches I downloaded was a program to alert me when a new security patch was available. That way I can't forget to do regular checks. I know virus/worm protection is not genealogy related but since we are all doing genealogy on the computer it is important to be aware of the newest ways to protect ourselves. As the list administrator I believe it is my duty to bring these warnings to you attention. Now, I need some help since I am ignorant on how this firewall is working and getting all these strange messages about files trying to invade my computer when surfing from website to website. The dialog boxes asks me if I want to block the file, and I don't know what I am actually blocking. Does anyone know where I can go on the net to find out more? Thanks. -- Pat Connors, Sacramento CA, list admin http://www.connorsgenealogy.com All outgoing mail virus free, scanned by Norton

Hi Pat, I use McAfee Firewall so I can't advise you precisely on Norton, but in general what you want to do is to set up your Firewall to block all transmissions back and forth between the internet and your computer except your programs which are actually supposed to go out to the internet as their primary function. So you would "block" everything except: 1) your browser (presumably Netscape or Internet Explorer) 2) your email program (presumably Outlook Express or Netscape's equivalent) 3) your streaming video/audio software (Real, QuickTime, Windows MediaPlayer, etc.) 4) your automatic updaters for Windows and Norton (both firewall and virus-scan) 5) any other application you have which normally is supposed to go out to the internet as its primary function (other auto updaters, for example). These last 5 you would designate for "filtering", i.e., you would have Norton check to see whether any communication coming in or going out appears to be a normal kind of communication. Everything else you want to "block." In McAfee, if you've "blocked" a set of programs or applications and one of those tries to communicate with the internet, you get to decide whether or not you want it to and in general you don't. For example, I don't expect files I downloaded into My Documents or My Spreadsheets to suddenly decide to communicate with the internet. If they do make that decision, it's probably because they're infected with a worm or virus. So I want those "blocked." And if my firewall pops up to tell me that one of these is trying to go out to the internet, I tell it no, don't let it. If, however, I purposefully click on a hyperlink embedded in a WORD text file which I'm looking at in My Documents because I want it to go out to the internet, then my Firewall will ag! ain pop up and say that particular WORD file is trying to communicate with the internet and ask me whether I want to let it continue. In other words, it's asking me whether everything's okay, so I would tell it yes, let this communication go ahead. Someone with Norton firewall can tell you exactly how to designate "block" vs. "filter" for your various applications. Meanwhile, you'll continue to see Norton constantly stopping others from scanning your computer, trying to find a way in. I probably see a message like this every 15-20 minutes or so on mine. But a firewall isn't enough. You will also want to set up your Norton AntiVirus program to regularly scan 1) all incoming communication and files to kill worms and viruses, 2) all outgoing communication and files to kill worms and viruses, and 3) your whole computer to kill viruses and worms which somehow slipped through anyway. Because of how active you are on the internet, you'll probably want to do the full computer scan at least daily, maybe even twice daily. In general, the Firewall is trying to keep others from taking over your computer and communicating with the internet in order to set up an attack on either you or others, while the Virus-Scan is trying to kill whatever bad stuff gets through. Both functions are essential. You need both. Hope that's helpful. Best, - Jerry ----- Original Message ----- From: "Pat Connors" <nymets11@pacbell.net> To: <IRISH-AMERICAN-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Monday, May 03, 2004 2:37 PM Subject: [Irish-American] ADMIN MSG - another virus/worm warning- Sasser > This new one is not spread from emails but though the internet. It > started in Europe and is spreading at a rapid rate across the world as > we all wake up and turn on our computers. Here is a blurb from the > Rueters news service.