Alert for Facebook and My Space users:

[jillan]

ALERT :Virus spreading like wildfire on Fb and My Space! It is a Trojan worm called koobface. It will steal your info,invade your system and shut it down! DO NOT open the link Barack Obama Clinton Scandal! If SmartGirl15 requests you as a friend, don't accept it; it is a virus. If somebody on your list adds her, you get the virus too! Please copy and paste to your wall. Confirmed on SNOPES....please pass it on.

[Myrina]

1. The "SmartGirl15" alert has been out there for months ...

... it's a wonder "she" can get any friends at all. :rofl:

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. Thank you!

Recommended.

[DainBramaged]

3. uh wait a sec

The Koobface threat is also the subject of many hoax warnings designed to trick social networking users into spreading misinformation across the Internet. Various anti-scam websites such as Snopes.com and ThatsNonsense.com have recorded many instances where alarmist messages designed to fool and panic Facebook users have began to circulate prolifically using the widely publicized Koobface threat as bait.<14><15> Popular examples are the "Barack Obama-Clinton Scandal" hoax which was popular in 2010.

Other misconceptions have spread regarding the Koobface threat, including the false assertion that accepting "hackers" as Facebook friends will infect a victim's computer with Koobface, or that Facebook applications are themselves Koobface threats. These claims are untrue. Other rumours assert that Koobface is much more dangerous than other examples of malware and has the ability to delete all of your computer files and "burn your hard disk." However, these rumours are inspired by earlier fake virus warning hoaxes and remain false.<16>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koobface

W32.Koobface.DRisk Level 1: Very Low

Discovered: August 7, 2009
Updated: August 8, 2009 1:32:06 AM
Also Known As: WORM_KOOBFACE.V
Type: Worm
Infection Length: 16,384 bytes
Systems Affected: Windows 98, Windows 95, Windows XP, Windows Me, Windows Vista, Windows NT, Windows Server 2003, Windows 2000 W32.Koobface.D is a worm that spreads through social networking sites. It also sends confidential information to a remote location.

For more information, please see the following resources:
W32.Koobface
Antivirus Protection DatesInitial Rapid Release version August 7, 2009 revision 051
Latest Rapid Release version November 17, 2010 revision 025
Initial Daily Certified version August 8, 2009 revision 003
Latest Daily Certified version November 18, 2010 revision 002
Initial Weekly Certified release date August 12, 2009
Click here for a more detailed description of Rapid Release and Daily Certified virus definitions.
Threat AssessmentWildWild Level: Low
Number of Infections: 0 - 49
Number of Sites: 0 - 2
Geographical Distribution: Low
Threat Containment: Easy
Removal: Easy
http://www.symantec.com/security_response/writeup.jsp?docid=2008-080315-0217-99

The worm is able to perform the following functions:

Spread through social networks
Steal confidential information
Inject advertising into web browsers
Redirect web browsing to malicious sites
Intercept Internet traffic
Block access to certain Internet sites
Start a web server to serve as a command and control server for other Koobface infections
Download additional files, such as updates to itself and other pay-per-install software that includes fake security products
Steal software license keys
Break CAPTCHAs
Determine if a link is blocked by Facebook
Create new Blogspot accounts and pages
Modify the Hosts file

Have a good anti-virus ansd malware program and the sweat is minimal.

[jillan]

4. Better to be safe than sorry... even if it is a hoax, why take a chance?

[JPZenger]

8. Whenever I see confirmed by Snopes.com...

Whenever I see a mass email that says it was confirmed by Snopes.com, I automatically assume it was not (unless there is an actual link).

[fishwax]

5. actually, Snopes says this version is a fake

The koobface virus is real, but the "Barack Obama Clinton Scandal" version not so much: http://www.snopes.com/computer/virus/koobface.asp

In July 2010 a variant (which sometimes incorrectly rendered "Koobface" as "Knob Face") began circulating, claiming that the virus was being spread by messages including a subject line or body text of "Barack Obama Clinton Scandal":

Virus spreading like wildfire onFaceBook!! It is a trojan worm called "koob face". It will steal your info, invade your system and shut it down! Do NOT open the link "Barack Obama Clinton Scandal"! If "SmartGirl15" adds you, don't accept it; it is a virus. If somebody on your list adds her then you get the virus too!! Copy and paste to your wall.

This variant is a hoax: there is no evidence that Koobface has been spread via "Barack Obama Clinton Scandal" messages. Likewise, the warning about "SmartGirl15" is just another updating of another long-running Internet hoax.

[Dollface]

6. More info - technical and removal

http://www.symantec.com/security_response/writeup.jsp?docid=2008-080315-0217-99

[highplainsdem]

7. According to Snopes, what you just copied here is a hoax. Two, in fact.

http://www.snopes.com/computer/virus/koobface.asp

See the bottom section of that page, the section beginning "In July 2010 a variant..."

http://www.snopes.com/computer/internet/hackermail.asp

That's the page about the SmartGirl15 hoax and similar hoaxes.

[KurtNYC]

9. Snopes does NOT confirm this -- quite the opposite

http://www.snopes.com/computer/virus/koobface.asp

[jillan]

11. Thanks - I just copied and pasted this from a friend's status, I didn't research.

Guess that makes me a bit of a sheep :P

[gratuitous]

10. Look out for the lazy jerk virus, too!

I don't really have time to go through the whole "write a virus" rigamarole, so just go to your DOS prompt, type format c: and hit enter. Blast through any niggling objections your system might have, and wipe your hard drive clean. Mmmmkay?

[dkofos]

12. If you use windows it's time to PANIC!!!!!!

If you use Linux, it's time to laugh at the windows users.

[jillan]

13. Are you seriously going to give me shit because I posted this? Amazing.

[dkofos]

14. No shit. I'm the one laughing.

[drmeow]

15. If you work in a corporate environment

where you don't have a choice and/or if you are insufficiently computer savvy to feel comfortable with Linux, it's time to tell all the Linux people exactly where they can stick their snark.

[DainBramaged]

16. Linux users, 2%ers without money

[dkofos]

17. Laughing even harder now.