School Committee Corner: Klez Virus
On April 17, 2002, the latest variant of a mass-mailing worm virus, known as Klez, was unleashed on the World Wide Web. In less than two weeks, it has infected more than seven percent of PCs worldwide; surpassing totals chalked up by previous virus threats such as SirCam and Nimda. AWRSD computers have certainly not been immune to this latest outbreak. As we, along with the rest of the world, try to keep this, and other viruses, at bay, we thought it was important to pass along some security "best practices":
- Always keep your patch levels up-to-date. The Klez virus exploits a vulnerability in Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Express. Information and a patch for this vulnerability can be found at this Microsoft Security Bulletin.
- Configure your e-mail client (Outlook, Outlook Express, Eudora, etc…) to block or remove e-mail that contains file attachments that are commonly used to spread viruses, such as .vbs, .bat, .exe, .pif, and .scr files.
- Do not open attachments unless you are expecting them. Also, do not execute software that is downloaded from the Internet unless it has been scanned for viruses. Simply visiting a compromised website can cause infection if certain browser vulnerabilities are not patched.
- Make sure you have up-to-date anti-virus software loaded onto your computer.
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has more information about the Klez virus. |
| Symantec also has a tool, which is offered free of charge, that will scan your computer and remove any infected files. It is well worth the few minutes to ensure that your computer is free of the Klez virus. | |