Which Antivirus program scan Newsgroups

  • Thread starter Thread starter Shay Glenn
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Shay Glenn

Hi all....Which Antivirus programs scan Newsgroups as I've notice their
riddled with virus's?
 
Hi all....Which Antivirus programs scan Newsgroups as I've notice their
riddled with virus's?
Click to expand...

None. Don't download files.

At least not ones with the extension .exe, .bat, .com, .pif, etc.

That's the short answer.

I'm sure someone will be nicer and post a more thorough explanation.
Just make sure you have an updated AV-scanner and a firewall on your
machine.

Cheers,

Pekka de G.
 
Shay said:
Hi all....Which Antivirus programs scan Newsgroups as I've notice
their riddled with virus's?
Click to expand...

As viruses attached to Usenet posts need to be downloaded, start by
learning to recognize the Subject lines and not opening them. Do not
click on suspicious links .. things like "President Bush was assassinated"

Add the "Size" column to your headings. Anything over a few KB will
likely have an attachment.

You're using:
X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2900.2180

Consider using a modern, secure application.
http://home.rochester.rr.com/bshagnasty/tips.html#newsreaders
 
Shay said:
Hi all....Which Antivirus programs scan Newsgroups as I've notice their
riddled with virus's?
Click to expand...

If you have a plain text news reader and don't open binaries, what's
your worry?
 
Shay Glenn said:
Hi all....Which Antivirus programs scan Newsgroups as I've notice their
riddled with virus's?
Click to expand...

In addition to the other suggestions listed above, I frequently open
the 2nd or 3rd response to a subject, especially if it looks
suspicious or is a very recent post in one of the computer security
newsgroups such as this one.

Several years ago, I got hit with the MS "Fatal Exception 0E with
Multiple MS-DOS Device Names in Path" flaw when I opened a message in
an AV NG. This was when the flaw was 1st discovered, before MS had a
patch for it.

I've have several other malware attacks from opening messages in other
NGs. All of these occurred just by opening messages that contained
executable code, not buy accessing any attachments.
 
* * Chas said:
I've have several other malware attacks from opening messages in
other NGs. All of these occurred just by opening messages that
contained executable code, not buy accessing any attachments.
Click to expand...

X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.50.4522.1200

You need to upgrade your "newsreader."

Try Thunderbird. It looks and works just like OE, but is secure.
 
Shay, none do.

This would not be possible. News Clients pull data from News Servers via the protocol NNTP.
This protocol does not have the ability to allow a News Client to be able to scan files on a
News Server. It will allow the user to pull the headers and the headers and bodies. Once
the posts exist on the PC the exist on the PC in some form of database structure. When the
user selects a particular post the item is extracted from the News Client's database. There
are two ways that a post may be infected. The first is if the post was made in HTML and the
second is in the form of attachments. If the post is in HTML format then malware scripts
may be embedded that can cause a vulnerability to be exploited or directly affect the
computer. In the case of attachments, the files are executable formats and if you try to
have the OS launch them they can deliver their payload.

However, when the user selects a post in the News Client the post is placed in memory and/or
the temporary directory or other disk cache file. When this operation is performed the "On
Access" capabilities of the AV scanner should scan the file. So if the file is in HTML
format then the body of the post should be scanned. When you open an attachment it is
extracted from the body of the post based upon the encoding methodology. When the file is
extracted it is placed in the temporary directory or other disk cache file and then it is
scanned by the AV scanners "On Access" scanner.

Others may wish to add to or elaborate on my statement as needed.

--
Dave




| Hi all....Which Antivirus programs scan Newsgroups as I've notice their
| riddled with virus's?
|
|
 
You could use NNTP for Outlook from MapiLab which offers news handling
through Outlook. If you then use an email plugin for Outlook of one of
those AV programs (e.g. AVG) all your news will be scanned for viruses.

Rckhardt Newger

-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
Von: Shay Glenn [mailto:[email protected]]
Bereitgestellt: Sonntag, 9. Januar 2005 16:40
Bereitgestellt in: alt.comp.anti-virus
Unterhaltung: Which Antivirus program scan Newsgroups
Betreff: Which Antivirus program scan Newsgroups


Hi all....Which Antivirus programs scan Newsgroups as I've notice their
riddled with virus's?
 
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