Just thought I'd give you all a warning - although this has only recently been discovered in the wild it's certainly kicking up a fuss at my university which probably means its about to become a lot more widespread over the next few days.

It sends a .pif file (seems to be often called "me_2005.pif") to people on your contact list (without your knowledge) and spreads that way - the recipient will just see it appearing as a normal file transfer.

So the usual common-sense rule applies:

- Don't open files sent to you on Messenger without checking with the sender first.

http://securityresponse.symantec.com...32.bropia.html

That was sent to me before by a friend, and I delcined. Heads up guys.

I also got offered alot of files called "LOL.exe"...

Yea right, like i'm THAT stupid... [img]tongue.gif[/img]

Also, keep a heads up for a screensaver (.scr) file. These three fileshave been 'offered' to me. :rolleyes:

I never download anything either on MSN without somebody telling me they are sending me something. And if a download just pops up in a MSN conversation, I always ask "What's this? Did you just send me something?". Best to be safe than sorry, same for emails too. I remember about 4 or so years ago MSN had the same thing going on, re virus infected downloads. I remember for weeks, no matter who I was chatting with on MSN, these downloads would randomly appear in the chatboxes. I just ignored them all and carried on the conversation. It got kinda comical after awhile, kinda like some little troll trying to lamely get your attention LOL. :D

<span style="color: lightblue">I realy have to wonder just which "feature" allows a file to automatically be sent across a supposedly secure connection, without the sender even having a window open - that's something not even a user can do!

Some msn users choose to allow files to be sent by default, which of course, is NOT a good idea! I know a guy (friend of my husband's) who has his set that way and is often away with the program ON, so who knows what kind of stuff he's getting sent to him.

Some of my friends get messages sent to all their contacts without them knowing. Buddy *something* (forgot the name) which tells them to visit a website.

Thanks for the information. [img]smile.gif[/img]
I never open a file I don't know or that wasn't sent from one of my friends. The same rule applies to E-mail and mIRC.

Could be Bargain Buddy, Ivellis.

Bottom line: don't open strange packages. If you get one, assume it's a bomb until you verify and prove otherwise.

Unfortunately, that's the safe way to do things these days... :(

It's Buddy Icon! That's it!

It just came to me then, heh.