Wikipedia is vehicle for Malware Threat

[SteveGrenard]

I know that many on this forum use Wikipedia (myself included) frequently so the following may be of interest. There are other articles on this news also:

Wikipedia Targeted by Malware Writers
By Elizabeth Millard
November 6, 2006 8:12AM

Wikipedia has not yet seen the need to implement a virus-scanning function, analysts say, but the recent incident with malicious software planted on Wikipedia pages might force the company to put in automatic virus checks, much like Yahoo and Hotmail have done with their free Web-based e-mail services.

Malware writers have used a Wikipedia article to lead users to a booby-trapped page that contained malicious code designed to plant viruses on the computers of unsuspecting users.

http://www.sci-tech-today.com/story.xhtml?story_id=01200189K7ZC

The following sites have additional details:


http://www.betanews.com/article/Wikipedia_Used_to_Spread_Virus/1162837865

http://www.computerworld.com/action...articleId=9004782&taxonomyId=71&intsrc=kc_top

http://news.com.com/Wikipedia+used+to+spread+malicious+code/2100-7349_3-6132733.html

 

[geni]

Virus scanner would have no effect. There was no virus code on wikipedia.

 

[drkitten]

Virus scanner would have no effect.

Only if you deliberately and negligently implement it badly. Simply content-validate external sites to check for viruses. Not 100% effective, of course, since linked-to sites may themselves change. But ceratinly a reasonable first-line of defense.

 

[Dark Jaguar]

I suppose it was bound to happen... Shame really. That's why I always keep an antivirus scanner running in my OS. I use AVG, because it's the one that's free and has a very small memory footprint.

 

[geni]

Only if you deliberately and negligently implement it badly. Simply content-validate external sites to check for viruses. Not 100% effective, of course, since linked-to sites may themselves change. But ceratinly a reasonable first-line of defense.

You offering to pay for it? I don't think I've run across any site that had that feature.

 

[drkitten]

You offering to pay for it? I don't think I've run across any site that had that feature.

I believe AVG offers a freeware version. The costs to set it up would be minimal.

 

[geni]

I believe AVG offers a freeware version.

Not open source, non comercial only and only scans the site you install it on. The final one makes it completely useless for what you suggested.

The costs to set it up would be minimal.

You have suggested scanning rather a lot of sites per day. Means more servers, more code, more bandwith. None of these are free.

 

[Whyatica]

What is the difference between sticking a link to a website with malware on it on wikipedia or on a forum?

After all, the forum doesn't scan every outgoing link for malware - so on this line of thinking, forums are vehicles for malware threats.

The internet is a vehicle for malware threat in general. Having wikipedia make a 'scanner' for every single external link is ridiculous, unless you intend to pay for it. And if wikipedia, why not Google? I doubt google scans every page they index for viruses/malware? Where does it end?