Written by washingtonpost.com's tech policy team, the e-mail version of this weekly feature includes an original news article and links to policy and cyber-security stories from the previous week. • Click Here for Free Sign-up • Read E-letter Archive
Several days before Sasser infected millions of computers, hackers released an unknown number of sophisticated programs that could enter computers through the same vulnerability.
Most versions of these malicious programs, known as "Phatbot," "Agobot" or "Gaobot," will block victims from visiting more than 600 antivirus and security sites. If you can reach Web sites like washingtonpost.com but not Microsoft.com or antivirus sites, your PC is almost surely infected with one of these programs. Click here for
instructions on how to configure your computer to allow access to these sites. (link to separate post.com page that contains information provided at the end of this document)
Consider downloading and running McAfee's "Stinger" software tool -- which can search for and destroy a large number of some of the Internet's nastiest predators, including the 'bots listed above.
The surest way to protect your PC from viruses, worms and other threats is to use some form of antivirus software and to check for updates regularly. We have listed several firewall and antivirus resources on our Web site.
