Danger of Image-Borne Viruses Looms
By Brian Krebs
washingtonpost.com Staff Writer
Thursday, September 23, 2004; 2:36 PM
Hackers are close to finding a way to spread harmful computer viruses just by getting people to open an e-mail message or visiting an infected Web site, computer security experts warned yesterday.
The hacking community, they said, is developing tools to exploit a new security flaw in computers running Microsoft's Windows XP and Server 2003 operating systems. Those tools could be used to power the worm, which could allow attackers to take control of people's computers. Microsoft identified the flaw last week and offered a free software patch to fix it.
The problem resides in computer code that Microsoft applications use to display JPEG digital image files, an image format found on millions of Web sites. Security experts say hackers could use the flaw to embed viruses into digital photos capable of infecting vulnerable PCs as soon as the user visits a malicious Web site or opens a specially-crafted e-mail.
The development marks a key shift in the way that the online security community encourages less technologically savvy computer users to stay safe on the Internet....
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A45126-2004Sep23.html