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Social Engineering Autoplay and Windows 7
Social Engineering Autoplay and Windows 7
The Downadup worm utilizes autorun.inf files to spread via removable devices such as USB drives. Our January 7th post, When is AUTORUN.INF really an AUTORUN.INF? , provided analysis. The autorun.inf uses some tricks, such as variable size, to help avoid detection. Bojan Zdrnja at SANS Internet ...
Windows 7 Beta hotkey cheat sheet
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Windows 7 Leaves Vista in the Dust
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AutoPlay - Fun and social engineering
Hardware 2.0 — ... This is something that Microsoft needs to fix in Windows 7. Downadup’s autorun.inf file uses an action keyword and icon extracted from shell32.dll to produce the following: windows_vista_open_folder_to_view_files.png The category is “Install or run program” but the text and icon are for “Open folder to view files“. The first option will run Downadup, not good. The second “general” option is the choice that will safely open the USB drive. Being curious, we tried this autorun.inf with Windows 7: windows_7_open_folder_to_view_files.png And the results for Windows 7 were the same ...

Downadup worm uses ‘Social Engineering Autoplay’ Vista and Windows 7 vulnerable
D' Technology Weblog — ... Downadup’s autorun.inf file uses an action keyword and icon extracted from shell32.dll to produce the following. The category is “Install or run program” but the text and icon are for “Open folder to view files“. The first option will run Downadup, not good. The second “general” option is the choice that will safely open the USB drive. It happens on Windows 7 also, F-Secure Weblog. ...

How the Downandup Worm works
CrunchGearThis is pretty interesting: there’s a new worm called Downandup that basically uses social engineering to spread itself. Take a look at that screenshot. Notice anything weird? When you insert a USB drive, it usually says something like “Open folder to view files.” Fair enough. But notice that there is a program that says the same thing “published by Microsoft.” That’s the trick. It basically convinces you that its a system action when it’s really an application. Tricksy tricksy.

Downandup/Conficker worm infects 9 million PCs
Yahoo! Tech Advisors — ... drive. Look closely at the screenshot above and you'll see two entries for "Open folder to view files." The one at the top is a phony entry that actually installs the virus on your machine... but of course it's the default selection that pops up when you plug in a drive. Once installed, the virus spreads like crazy via a separate flaw in Windows networking system (now patched, so be sure to run Windows Update if you haven't lately) and can quickly infect a whole office. F-Secure has more analysis on the clever way it tricks you into installing the malware yourself. How bad ...

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