# What's Up With All The Viruses Today?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-all-the-viruses-today/202594>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [September 19, 2003, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-all-the-viruses-today/202594 "2003-09-19T14:18:48Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Doomtrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/0ea827/32.png) [@Doomtrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doomtrain)\
**Post date:** [September 19, 2003, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-all-the-viruses-today/202594/1 "2003-09-19T14:18:48Z")

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Anybody else getting a ton of viruses today? I’ve gotten four of those fake Microsoft attachment emails (the VERY convincing ones) and my account for school is just getting hammered. What’s going on? New outbreak or something?

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**Author:** ![Fredge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/258eb7/32.png) [@Fredge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fredge)\
**Post date:** [September 19, 2003, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-all-the-viruses-today/202594/2 "2003-09-19T16:57:42Z")

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You’re probably getting hit by the new [Swen](http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/w32.swen.a@mm.html)  
attacks. See the link for more information on it (specifics, prevention, etc).

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**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\
**Post date:** [September 20, 2003, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-all-the-viruses-today/202594/3 "2003-09-20T00:00:32Z")

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The [Swen](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A35735-2003Sep19.html) worm, first detected Thursday, Sept 18, is spreading fast.

It is detected by all anti-virus programs, but only if you get the latest pattern files.

A free scan is available at [antivirus.com](http://antivirus.com)

It can infect a PC if it hasn’t been patched for a vulnerabilty known for 2 years. This allows a program coming in on an email to be executed **even if the attachment is not opened by the user**.

If the patch is in place, and the user clicks on the official-looking (very!) message, he will get infected that way instead.

The message, with html graphics and minus the usually bad spelling that viruses often have, looks like a Microsoft advisory. It is no less lethal than older, junky-looking ones.