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House of Representatives approves revised anti-spyware legislation Posted on 14 March 2005 by Virus Bulletin

Mobile phone virus replicates via MMS Researchers have reported a mobile phone virus that appears to be the first virus to replicate via MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service) messages. The virus, which has been named CommWarrier, runs on the Symbian Series 60 platform and attempts to spread via both MMS and Bluetooth. Although reports indicate that…

Judge overturns conviction in US spam case A US Judge has overturned a conviction in one of last year’s high profile anti-spam cases. Judge Thomas D. Horne has ruled that there was insufficient evidence for the conviction of Jessica DeGroot alongside her brother, prolific spammer Jeremy Jaynes (aka Gavin Stubberfield). In November 2004 a jury…

AV company awarded patent for scanning technology Symantec has been granted a patent for ‘Data driven detection of viruses’ – a method that has been used in Symantec’s products since 1999. US patent no. 6,851,057 covers a P-code related technique that enables simple scripts to be written that will allow for complex scanning and emulation…

VB regrets that two mistakes crept into the comparative review published in the February 2005 issue. Virus Bulletin regrets that the Windows NT Workstation comparative review published in the February 2005 issue of VB (see , VB, February 2005, p.12 ) contained two errors. First, AhnLab V3 VirusBlock was noted as having missed a single…

The latest developments on Microsoft’s new anti-virus venture. The news that set industry analysts chattering (and doom-sayers prophesying) last month was Microsoft’s acquisition of email-scanning software provider Sybari Software Inc . Reaction to the news has been mixed – the feeling of many is that, rather than attempting to enter the AV market itself, Microsoft…

News channel sends spam message as ‘breaking news’ MSNBC.com, the online news service run by Microsoft and NBC News, was forced to make a red-faced apology this week, after accidentally sending a spam message to subscribers to its breaking news alert service. The statement on MSNBC.com read: ‘Due to human error, a spam email sent…

Government launches IT security website The UK government has launched a new service aimed at providing home users and small businesses with advice on how to protect their computers, mobile phones and other devices from malicious attack. The ITsafe (IT Security Awareness for Everyone) website provides simple, step by step guides of how to make…

Airport arrest for 18-year-old spammer, and felony charge for SMS election spammer An 18-year-old New Yorker is under investigation this week for sending more than one million spam messages. 18-year-old Anthony Greco, who is accused of sending approx. 1.5 million unsolicited emails to customers of online networking forum MySpace.com , was arrested when he arrived…

Microsoft, eBay, PayPal and Visa join forces Microsoft, eBay, PayPal and Visa have joined forces to form what is described as the internet’s first global anti-phishing aggregation service, the Phish Report Network. The Phish Report Network, which was announced at the RSA Conference in San Francisco this week, will collect and collate reports of phishing…