[MW Forums]

Google employees accidentally sent out the Kama Sutra worm to subscribers to its Video Blog mailing list. more

[veggiedude]

It's Microsofts fault.
Damn them!

[spimster]

Quote:

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If you think you have downloaded this virus from the group or an e-mail message, we recommend you run your antivirus program to remove it,

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. . . that is .. IF you are running Windows
nice assumption in their message
the rest of us can smugly ignore it

[jmincey]

"...the rest of us can smugly ignore it."
The rest of us can ignore it, but not smugly. No operating system is perfect or 100 percent secure.
Actually, it behooves the rest of us to make efforts not to propagate this worm further and to examine our own mail lest we be carriers. So maybe the rest of us cannot ignore this after all.

[OM_user]

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Actually, it behooves the rest of us to make efforts not to propagate this worm further and to examine our own mail lest we be carriers. So maybe the rest of us cannot ignore this after all.

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Of course. We need to try to be good 'net citizens and remove any viruses from email we get, even if they don't do a thing to our Macs (or Linus boxes, etc.)
Still, this is another blemish on Google. They've been having a rough couple of months. I think they need to take a step back and work on strengthening their foundation before they keep expanding into all these new territories.

[spimster]

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The rest of us can ignore it, but not smugly.

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um .. YES ... yes, I can ignore this -- smugly . . . "it" being this issued statement by Google over this incident at this time.
I'm not so crass as to willfully propagate these things to others.
but this particular story is about a particular incident ... and I can justly be rather smug about my position ... my OS is impervious to this assault, this threat, and need not be concerned with "running my Virus software" to deal with it, since this worm could not get into my mail program and thereby propagate by this vector (unless I attached it myself to some message).
so, I can be smug ....
it's still untold thousands to zero (actual, not "proof of concept" attempts at hard-selling virus software)
sure, we may get one someday (I'm sure it can eventually), and if and when that happens, my Mac will still be secured against it faster than Windows users secure theirs.

[nmpike]

Well, it's not Google's fault that Windows is so easy to exploit. Don't blame Google for what Microsoft make's possible.
This instance did not affect Mac or Linux users, so if you ask me, the problem isn't Google, it's Microsoft.

[lantzn]

Is there a free virus program for OSX 10.4.8 that watches for these types of things? I haven't had virus protection since going to X and don't really want to pay for protection until something really affects X itself.

[sosumi]

ClamXav.

[Complexity]

Quote:

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um .. YES ... yes, I can ignore this -- smugly . . . "it" being this issued statement by Google over this incident at this time.

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I'm going to take it back to your original statement. While I don't have the attitude of being "smug", it could be said that I can smugly ignore this and any other traditional virus from emails.
I insist on using a text-only email client. Right now, I'm using Mailsmith. I switched to it a few years ago when I moved to OS X after outgrowing my old text-only email client.
I've never used any email client that actually runs the html code in an email message; instead, I see the actual source code of the email message. Most emails come in either text only or in both, text and html, versions. If I get an html email, I can view it in html mode after I've viewed it as text (including any attachments). I have never understood with all the email worms, trojans, viruses, etc. Windows users face why they don't have a text-only email client. If you don't run the html code, the malicious code can't do anything!
So unless and until someone figures out how to spread an email virus when a person is viewing the source code in a text editor, I can happily (or smugly) sit back and ignore these warnings and problems. Nothing is ran automatically from an email, and I can see the malicious code before even thinking about passing the email to others.
/forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif <--- being smug!

[wardoggie]

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Well, it's not Google's fault that Windows is so easy to exploit. Don't blame Google for what Microsoft make's possible.
This instance did not affect Mac or Linux users, so if you ask me, the problem isn't Google, it's Microsoft.

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Yes, but it is someone's fault at Google for sending out the virus, and someone else's fault at Google for allowing it to leave their corporate network.
Windows is a very insecure OS, and the world would probably be a better place if it were more secure, but according to the article, the virus was discovered in January 2006. IMO, that's plenty of time for Google to update their network and desktop virus definitions, which would've stopped the problem before it started.

[tallscot]

Actually, it behooves the rest of us to make efforts not to propagate this worm further and to examine our own mail lest we be carriers. So maybe the rest of us cannot ignore this after all.
No, it behooves me to spread it like wildfire so more and more Windows users feel more compelled to switch to Macs, which benefits me because more Macs leads to better software choice and better support from developers.
/forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

[tallscot]

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Google employees accidentally sent out the Kama Sutra worm to subscribers to its Video Blog mailing list. <a href="/news/2006/11/08/googleworm/index.php">[more]</a>

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Google is getting bad karma because their founders are betraying their Bay Area hippie ideology and becoming greedy evil bastards (fly around in a private 767, which isn't a Prius) who are complicit with censorship in China.
/forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif