OpenOffice worm Badbunny hops across operating systems

TalkBack 14 of 105:

Next »

« Previous

• Thread View
• Flat View

Might be somewhat old news

The virus they're referring to sounds like a classic "macro" virus, a type
that's been around not too long after Microsoft developed Visual Basic, a
miniature programming language that, among other things, can be used to
create macros to attach to Word and Excel files. Problem is, they gave
Visual Basic the ability to execute commands that can do some low-level
stuff, like add or trash files. After a few years of people suffering from this
type of malware, because Microsoft set the default for macros to run
automatically when the file they were attached to was opened, Microsoft
finally gave in and had Word, etc. display an alert whenever a file was
opened that contained a Visual Basic macro, asking the user if they wanted
to proceed, or to disable the macro and open the actual file it was attached
to. Not a perfect solution, but I think it stemmed the tide a lot. Maybe
OpenOffice should have a similar alert come up, at least.

So this malware spreads by someone sending you a file with this thing
attached as a macro, and it does its thing when you open the file and allow
the macro to also run (that is, assuming OpenOffice lets macros run
automatically by default). One could say anyone who opens a file from
someone they don't know, without having antivirus software installed to
scan it first, is dumb, and though that might be partly true, people still do
it. The more clever macros will attach themselves to other documents,
ones that you may have written, and might share with other, unsuspecting
people, and it spreads from there.

Posted by: John Sawyer   Posted on: 06/11/07 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

Alert moderator to an offensive message

Subscribe to this discussion via Email or RSS

SponsoredWhite Papers, Webcasts, and Downloads

• The True Costs of Virtual Server Solutions VMware In an economic environment that is repeatedly heralding the message "do ... Download Now
• The Impact of Virtualization Software on Operating Environments VMware Today's use of virtualization technology allows IT professionals to ... Download Now
• Five Steps to Determine When to Virtualize YourServers VMware Server virtualization isn't just for big companies. Entry-level ... Download Now