slammed by Sober worm

[Christi]

Is anybody else getting slammed by this new Sober.i worm? I'm dying here...and my computer isn't infected! All my legit e-mails are getting bounced ("mailbox full") and I can barely keep up with it, since Friday (November 19th).

And I don't know what to do! It's my Web e-mail and my AOL and and and...

Will it just go away?

Christi

[pendanticist]

Have you google'd the term [google.com]?

Symantec says: W32.Sober.I@mm is a mass-mailing worm that uses its own SMTP engine to spread by sending itself as an email attachment to addresses gathered from the infected computer.

[Christi]

Yes, I googled it...and read Symantec's analysis right away on Friday. I just don't know if there's any way to stop the incoming e-mails. It's not my computer or our site; I understand that. But I guess my question is, do I have to wait for my e-mail systems' servers to get rid of it before the e-mails stop to me?

Any advice most appreciated. Thanks!

[pendanticist]

I am not really sure. Seems to me the infected machines would need to be terminated first. Then again, as this may not be the correct forum for this, your responses may be limited.

[Milamber]

Can you setup a rule with your email program to automatically delete the emails as soon as they arrive?

[Christi]

Thank you both for your suggestions and advice. I got busy or would have replied sooner, but get this! Case closed.

Yesterday around noon my time Symantec started automatically deleting the e-mails, the way they do when Netsky.P worm e-mail comes through, which is a lot faster. AOL just stopped allowing in the e-mails at all.

Phew! I'm back to normal e-mailing and it sure does feel good.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Christi

[pendanticist]

Glad to hear the problem is corrected.

I wonder if AOL has been provided with a proprietary firewall specifically for them from Symantec.

I just recently saw the AOL/PC ad on the tube - Systemax systems I think. My initial reaction was one of surprise at the 'involvement' of AOL ( Part of Time Warner ) and it's customers. When my searching’s were done, I discovered the TV ads must be the Last Blast of advertising before the Black Monday thru Christmas Eve sales period as the offer actually ends December 24th. In other words, the program has been offered for nearly a year.

Boy, was I behind on that one. <soft chuckle>

Another example is the local call center I applied to pays $10.00 (hr.) + many perks, just to field calls from disgruntled AOL customers who want to jump ship.

Anyway, I am continually impressed with the depth of AOLs involvement, as I have said. Yet, it seems most everything AOL is proprietary ( or nearly so ), I just don't see the appeal when you verse that against learning PC and the Internet in their natural state (for lack of a better word) replete with all it's nasty trappings such as the subject of this thread.

Couple of years back some friends had AOL and the browsers were just so...cumbersome. Do not recall the version, but it was their first machine and they hooked up with AOL straight away. However, the browsers and certain other functions felt different somehow.

I do not mean to offend the many AOL subscribers who frequent these boards at all. Believe me, I have a similar experience having my first Internet Appliance being a WebTV Internet Terminal. :) Had that puppy for three years and managed to develop and deploy my only domain using it. So, I know that things are done, uh, differently.

One also has to wonder what other unique problems webmasters face.

So, I'm kinda takin advantage of this thread to ask you the question, which I've been aching to find out.

Are there any major differences between the whole AOL thing and say, a non-proprietary PC ( with an Independent ISP btw ) such as I've lined out above?

I'm trying not to let my ignorance show, or step on any toes. I hope I've defined the scope of my query properly.

Thanks.