Slightly Off KIlter

The latest Micro$oft Outlook whatever virus / worm / invasion is a royal pain. I keep getting email claiming that I’m infected and that a piece of mail I (never) sent was infected. The mail was probably infected, but I didn’t send it. I know I didn’t send it and I’m very sure I’m not infected.

I’ve got a Mac.

Still, it’s annoying to get all the “returned mail”, not to mention the multiple attempts to infect my computer.

Subject: Re: wicked screensaver

see the attached file for details

Odd; there is no attached file. KLEZ was harder to spot and kill. Now I have SpamAssassin and procmail nuking this junkmail before it ever reaches my inbox.

I feel sorry for the people who’ve been infected. But when I found out that the latest “worm” was thwarting the efforts of Air Canada’s check-in computer system (resulting in long delays at the airport), that Canada and Ohio were both experiencing “difficulties” in responding to the recent power outage, I have to ask… why do these large companies and institutions still depend on Micro$oft software for mission-critical applications?

Telus, the country’s second-biggest phone company, saw operations for 411 operators slowed as the worm infected a number of internal systems at the company, while Corus Entertainment’s Web site was down until the company was able to clean up its system.

The worm snarled the network at the CBC, slowing the broadcaster’s Web site.

The Blaster worm also affected some computers of Ontario’s emergency response system dealing with the aftermath of last week’s huge blackout across a swath of the province and eight U.S. states.

Dr. James Young, the Ontario commissioner of public safety, said the problem was “making our job more difficult.”

I don’t get it. This is not a new thing. Doesn’t anyone ever learn?

But I keep typing on… and watching from the sidelines; I’m sticking with my Mac

Whether or not you are at risk, avoid the virus (and the junkmail):

Beware of any email with the body saying nothing but

see the attached file for details

Subjects include

Re: Wicked screensaver

Re: Your Application

Re: Your reply

Re: Your Software

Re: Thank you!

Content (if present) will show

Content-type:  application/octet-stream

and an attachment with a name ending in ‘.pif’

Mac and *nix (Linux, BSD) users cannot be infected (and the attachment seems to vanish as well, at least on my system) but the sheer volume of this stuff is still very annoying.