Don't ever go to facebook.cm

[beanbag]

Just a warning for all!

I typed facebook into my browser address bar and accidentally missed out the "o" from .com.

It takes you to a website where a virus lies in waiting. Luckily, I use Avast and it caught the virus and terminated the connection before any damage was done but just be warned to be careful and make sure you have a good virus scanner that is up-to-date.

(Mods, please keep this in this section as it's applicable to all).

[JonnyV8]

Thanks for the heads up.
Very clever way of doing, bdos

[RegMolehusband]

Oh no! Tempted to go to it now to see if AVG catches it!

[kaese]

For those using Firefox, there's a nifty little add-on which should stop this happening:

http://www.chrisfinke.com/addons/url-fixer/

[MrBennett]

I read about the guy that has a catch-all on all DNS errors on *.cm domains... Easy money.

From what I remember he did a deal with the Cameroon government to set it up.

[L4MBOLUV3R]

if im not mistaken you have to download viruses, they cant just get in unless you let them in so did it ask you to download something?

[tegwin]

L4MBOLUV3R said:

if im not mistaken you have to download viruses, they cant just get in unless you let them in so did it ask you to download something?

um.... when you visit a website you DOWNLOAD the content of the page... so if your virus coder has half a brain you make it in such a way that it loads up when the page loads....

Could be done using simple Javascript to open up a path to download anything you wanted...

[crmcatee]

that'll be the popup my browsers asking me to allow

[beanbag]

L4MBOLUV3R said:

if im not mistaken you have to download viruses, they cant just get in unless you let them in so did it ask you to download something?

There was no download or anything. I'm not going to the same site again, but I believe it takes advantage of a browser exploit. In this scenario, no download is necessary and unless you have an AV, it's totally invisible to the user.

[fadeaway]

crmcatee said:

that'll be the popup my browsers asking me to allow

not necessarily. You can get a virus by visiting a web site without having any popups. Surf safe people!

[bosshog]

tegwin said:

L4MBOLUV3R said:

if im not mistaken you have to download viruses, they cant just get in unless you let them in so did it ask you to download something?

um.... when you visit a website you DOWNLOAD the content of the page... so if your virus coder has half a brain you make it in such a way that it loads up when the page loads....

Could be done using simple Javascript to open up a path to download anything you wanted...

Indeed but the browser (should) work as a sandbox for any content. So if something other than images, javascript,cookies and html/xml is being downloaded it will always ask you via a prompt. If you say no then you are safe. The problem comes when either the malware site have found some unknown bug/security hole in the browser and can install and run something without the prompt. Very rare but can happen until a hotfix is done. Thats why is suepr important to make sure you have the latest version of your browser and applications such a PDF viewers etc

edited to say, most virus come from installing a prgram or running an attachmetn you think is fine - it may work frine,. but can have malware embedded into the attachement/application that silently installs and runs itself. If you use bittorent and the likes then the files you download are rife with malware/viruses.

Edited by bosshog on Tuesday 31st March 13:27

[anonymous-user]

kaese said:

For those using Firefox, there's a nifty little add-on which should stop this happening:

http://www.chrisfinke.com/addons/url-fixer/

Cool. Just downloaded that ... cheers!