INTERNET RESEARCH ON VIRUS HOAXES REALITIES USING SNOPES

INTERNET RESEARCH ON VIRUS HOAXES & REALITIES USING SNOPES. COM SEARCH BOX • MUHAMMAD HAFIZUDDIN HASIEF BIN AZMAN 2017696506 • MOHD ZULFIQAR ZIKRI BIN MOHD FADHIL 2017696476

HOAXES VIRUS IT IS A FAKE VIRUS MADE UP BY PERSON FOR SOME REASONS. THE STORY MADE UP TO HUMILIATE THE PERSONS OR TO SPREAD VIRUSES OR MALWARE. SOME STORY IS MADE JUST TO GET A PUBLICITY FROM THE NETIZENS AND THE MEDIA.

DONALD TRUMP ARRESTED Published: Nov 1 st, 2016

In October 2016, a similar warning was circulated via social media about a virus supposedly being spread that used a lure of a picture of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump being arrested in order to induce users to click on it. Donald Trump has, of course, not been arrested, and we have seen no documented reports of an actual virus threat matching the one described in the Example box above. So the ‘Donald Trump Arrested’ virus warning appears to be either a misunderstanding or just another entry in a long line of hoax virus warnings. This story was made up to attract people and they can get profit from that as Donald Trump is a new President of United State of America.

VIDEO CALL ‘SONIA DISOWNS RAHUL’ Published: Mar 16 th, 2016

In March 2016, a message circulated warning users not to “accept” a viral video entitled “Sonia Disowns Rahul” because it contained a malicious virus: The multiple versions of this warning circulated in March 2016 mostly had two things in common: They claimed that the warning originated “on the radio, ” and they urged recipients to forward the message to their entire contact list. We found no record, however, of any radio station earnestly warning people about the purported “Sonia Disowns Rahul” cell phone virus, nor have there been news articles about the dangers of the video or warnings issued by antivirus companies. In fact, the only mentions we could find about “Sonia Disowns Rahul” virus were the circulated warnings themselves. The “Sonia Disowns Rahul” virus hoax bore a striking resemblance to the “Dance Of the Pope” hoax that surfaced in October 2015. Both of these hoaxes claimed that the warning had originated “on the radio, ” and urged people to forward the message to everyone on their contact list. In both instances, we concluded that there was no evidence that the virus ever existed, and that the circulated message was nothing more than a hoax. Could be “Kara Rouse” that spread this story just wanted attention and publicity from the netizens.

DANCE OF THE POPE Published: Apr 7 th, 2015

In early April 2015, several rumours warning mobile phone users of a malware attachment known as the Dance of the Pope (later Dance of the Hillary) began to circulate. Many versions claimed the Dance of the Pope was an infected attachment (often a GIF or video), and that users who opened the file using services such as Black. Berry Messenger or Whats. App risked the loss of all their cell phone data. A common thread in the rumours was its source: most claimed the Dance of the Pope virus was reported on the radio. Although most mentioned that the virus was discussed on the radio, none said that the posters themselves had heard it. Folks spreading the rumour believed others had heard about the virus on the radio; but none of the major versions involved the person spreading the rumour having personally listened to a news report. We found no information suggesting the Dance of the Pope virus warning was anything but a rumour. No radio stations were linked to the purported announcement; no news outlets reported the story; none of the antivirus companies had heard of it; and, most tellingly, no one appeared to have experienced the virus on his own device. If the virus were real, many users would have encountered and unwittingly opened the attachment despite the circulating warning by now.

ACTUAL VIRUS IT IS TRUE VIRUS THAT FROM THE MALEWARE THE SPREAD AT THE INTERNET. THERE IS SOME STORIES THAT VIRUS ARE THE TRUE STORY BASED ON WHAT HAPPENED AROUND THE WORLD.

MYSTERY (IN)BOX

On 5 April 2016, the blog Hello. Giggles published an article reporting that the filtering of messages sent through Facebook’s Messenger facility goes deeper than most users know. Although most users are aware of their “other” inbox (but didn’t always check it), there is a second “other” inbox that’s harder to find: We’re about to share with you something that will change your life, probably (and suck up any free time you have). There is a whole vault of unseen Facebook messages in your inbox you didn’t even know existed … Sounds suspicious and too weird to be true. But stay with us, and we’ll help you uncover them. OK, so you know how there’s a “message request” box in your Facebook messenger inbox where you can either accept or deny messages from people who aren’t your friends? Well, Facebook does some filtering of its own to decide which messages even pop up in that request section in the first place. Think of it like your email automatically sifts out spam. This means there are potentially a huge pile of unseen (and unanswered) messages that didn’t make the “message request” cut. Who knows? Some of them might be useful … We just went through all the steps and found so many messages. Reaching the hidden mailbox requires following a particular series of steps. For our trial, we used Facebook Messenger, which can be employed to access Facebook messages without going directly to Facebook. com. This could ne happened because of the bug at the Facebook site.

IS HEALTHCARE. GOV SCHEDULED OF MAINTANANCE DURING OBAMACARE ENROLLMENT

In September 2017, numerous news accounts reported that the Healthcare. gov web site was scheduled to be shut down for maintenance on several occasions during the 2018 “Obamacare” health insurance open enrolment period, which runs from 1 November to 15 December 2017, prompting queries to us from readers about the issue. Kaiser Health News, a self-described “non-profit news service committed to in-depth coverage of health care policy and politics, ” reported that: The Trump administration plans to shut down the federal health insurance exchange for 12 hours during all but one Sunday in the upcoming open enrolment season. The shutdown will occur from 12 a. m. to 12 p. m. ET on every Sunday except Dec. 10. The Department of Health and Human Services will also shut down the federal exchange — healthcare. gov — overnight on the first day of open enrolment, Nov. 1. More than three dozen states use that exchange for their marketplaces. HHS officials disclosed this information during a webinar with community groups that help people enrol.

FBI vs FACEBOOK VIRUS LURE

ORIGINS: The “FBI vs. Facebook” mailings are new lures for an existing virus (rather than a new form of virus), but since they’ve garnered so much attention, we’ve created this separate entry for them. The mailings, which began in July 2008, typically arrive with a subject line of “F. B. I. vs. Facebook” and include the text “F. B. I. Facebook Records” with a link to what appears to be a news site. However, clicking through on the link will initiate the download of an malicious executable (fbi_facebook. exe) onto recipients’ PCs, while something like the screen shot shown above displays to trick users into believing they’re merely visiting an innocuous news site. All of this camouflage is cover for propagation of the Storm worm, a virus which has been around for a few years and has been spread via many guises. Because this particular incarnation invokes the name and symbol of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), that agency has issued a press release to warn the public about the misleading messages:

FBI WARNS OF STORM WORM VIRUS The FBI and its partner, the Internet Crime Complaint Centre (IC 3), have received reports of recent spam e-mails spreading the Storm Worm malicious software, known as malware. These e-mails, which contain the phrase “F. B. I. vs. Facebook, ” direct e-mail recipients to click on a link to view an article about the FBI and Facebook, a popular social networking website. The Storm Worm virus has also been spread in the past in e-mails advertising a holiday e-card link. Clicking on the link downloads malware onto the Internet connected device, causing it to become infected with the virus and part of the Storm Worm botnet. A botnet is a collection of compromised computers under the remote command control of a criminal “botherder. ” Most owners of the compromised computers are unsuspecting victims. They have unintentionally allowed unauthorized access and use of their computers as a vehicle to facilitate other crimes, such as identity theft, denial of service attacks, phishing, click fraud, and the mass distribution of spam and spyware. Because of their widely distributed capabilities, botnets are a growing threat to national security, the national information infrastructure, and the economy.

The spammers spreading this virus are preying on Internet users and making their computers an unwitting part of criminal botnet activity. We urge citizens to help prevent the spread of botnets by becoming web-savvy. Following some simple computer security practices will reduce the risk that their computers will be compromised, ” said Special Agent Richard Kolko, Chief, FBI National Press Office. Everyone should consider the following: Do not respond to unsolicited (spam) e-mail. Be sceptical of individuals representing themselves as officials soliciting personal information via e-mail. Do not click on links contained within an unsolicited e-mail. Be cautious of e-mail claiming to contain pictures in attached files, as the files may contain viruses. Only open attachments from known senders. Validate the legitimacy of the organization by directly accessing the organization’s website rather than following an alleged link to the site. Do not provide personal or financial information to anyone who solicits information.

ZEUS VIRUS

ORIGINS: In May 2013, Trend Micro reported on the increased incidence in recent months of a version of the six-year-old personal information-stealing Zeu. S/ZBOT Trojan horse: The notorious info-stealing Zeu. S/ZBOT variants are remerging with a vengeance, with increased activity and a different version of the malware seen this year. In our 2013 Security Predictions, we predicted that cybercrime will be characterized by old threats resurfacing, but with certain refinements and new features in tow. The 1 Q of the year proved this thesis, as seen in threats like CARBERP and Andromeda botnet. We can now include the data-stealing malware Zeu. S/ZBOT to this roster of old-but-new threats, which we’ve noted to have increased these past months based from Trend Micro Smart Protection Network feedback. According to Symantec, Zeus is typically spread through phishing schemes which utilize e-mail and links in fake Facebook profiles (often in the form of messages that tell friends to check out videos or products): The Trojan itself is primarily distributed through spam campaigns and drive-by downloads, though given its versatility, other vectors may also be utilized. The user may receive an email message purporting to be from organizations such as the FDIC, IRS, My. Space, Facebook, or Microsoft. The message body warns the user of a problem with their financial information, online account, or software and suggests they visit a link provided in the email. The computer is compromised if the user visits the link, if it is not protected.

As noted in the New York Times, one of the primary targets of Zeus malware is the stealing of customer passwords and personal information associated with banking web sites: Zeus is a particularly nasty Trojan horse that has infected millions of computers, most of them in the United States. Once Zeus has compromised a computer, it stays dormant until a victim logs into a bank site, and then it steals the victim’s passwords and drains the victim’s accounts. In some cases, it can even replace a bank’s Web site with its own page, in order to get even more information — such as a Social Security number — that can be sold on the black market. Zeus targets Windows-based machines and does not work on Mac OS X or Linux systems.

Definition for Snopes. com , also known as the Urban Legends Reference Pages, is a website covering urban legends, Internet rumors, e-mail forwards, and other stories of unknown or questionable origin. It is a well-known resource for validating and debunking such stories in American popular culture, receiving 300, 000 visits a day as of 2010. Snopes. com was created by Barbara and David Mikkelson, a California couple who met in the alt. folklore. urban newsgroup. The site is organized by topic and includes a message board where stories and pictures of questionable veracity may be posted. To use knowledge gained from an urban legends website or other research to administer a firm rebuke to people who chronically forward junk to your inbox. This action may involve hitting the reply-all button (public snoping).

REFERENCES 1. “HOAX: 'Donald Trump Arrested' Virus Warning. ” Snopes. com, 3 Apr. 2017, www. snopes. com/donald-trump-arrested-virus-warning. 2. “'Sonia Disowns Rahul' Virus Hoax. ” Snopes. com, 29 Apr. 2017, www. snopes. com/sonia-disownsrahul-hoax/. 3. “HOAX: 'Dance of the Pope' Virus. ” Snopes. com, 13 Dec. 2016, www. snopes. com/computer/virus/popedance. asp. 4. “Osama Bin Laden Video Virus. ” Snopes. com, 23 Oct. 2016, www. snopes. com/computer/virus/osama. asp. 5. “FBI vs. Facebook Virus Lure. ” Snopes. com, 23 Oct. 2016, www. snopes. com/computer/virus/fbifacebook. asp. 6. “Zeu. S Virus. ” Snopes. com, 23 Oct. 2016, www. snopes. com/computer/virus/zeus. asp. 7. “FACT CHECK: Is Healthcare. gov Scheduled for Maintenance During Obamacare Enrollment? ” Snopes. com, 25 Sept. 2017, www. snopes. com/healthcare-gov-maintenance/. 8. “Snope. ” Urban Dictionary, www. urbandictionary. com/define. php? term=Snope. 9. “Snopes. com. ” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 25 Sept. 2017, en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Snopes. com.