Monthly Archives: April 2009

New Malicious PowerPoint Files

Posted by on 6 April, 2009 No comments

Some new PowerPoint files are being sent around the internet that do some bad things. When you open the PowerPoint file it runs a program that lets others connect to your PC, it then installs more malware onto it. And finally it cleans up the original PowerPoint file to make it more difficult to detect that the PC has been infected.

The following versions of PowerPoint are affected:

  • PowerPoint 2000 Service Pack 3
  • PowerPoint 2002 Service Pack 3
  • PowerPoint 2003 Service Pack 3
  • Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac

If you’re using PowerPoint 2007, just the PowerPoint Viewer (not the full version), or Office 2008 for Mac, then you’re safe.

If you receive spam with an attached PowerPoint file delete it.

Here is Microsoft’s advisory about this problem.

Wii Points Generator

Posted by on 5 April, 2009 2 comments

There are a few YouTube videos promoting a product called Wii Points Generator. This product is supposed to create Wii points (Wii is Nintendo’s game console). The video shows a link to download a program called generator.exe.

The program does not generate any Wii points. It’s a scam that installs a trojan that then downloads more malware.

There are also videos on YouTube that claim to show you how to create XBox points and iTunes gift cards. These are also scams that install viruses.

Wii Points Generator scam

MacCinema

Posted by on 2 April, 2009 2 comments

Another Mac trojan. There’s a program for Macs called MacCinema Installer. The filename is: Flash.Player.Update.v9.19.dmg. Some web sites claim that you need to install it to watch their videos.

When you install it, it adds something to your Mac so that every 5 hours it will try to download malware. So if your Mac becomes infected with malware and you clean it, in 5 hours it’ll download another one. This is pretty common these days.

So if you come across MacCinema don’t install it. And if a web site tells you that you need to install something to watch their videos, don’t trust it (this applies to Mac OS X, Linux, and Windows).