Spim doctor

Got your own spyware horror story?

I thought I knew enough about computer security to keep me protected. I have ZoneAlarm firewall, AVG Anti-Virus, AVG Anti-Spyware, Ad-Aware, and Spybot Search & Destroy installed and updated on my Windows PC as well as on my parents' and grandparents' Windows PCs. I run the scans every couple of weeks or so, and clean out the junk that comes up.

It turns out that I'm protected against everything but myself. Two-and-a-half years ago, my friend sent me an instant message asking that I check out a picture she had posted online. I conversed with this friend often, and she had sent me messages like that before. So I clicked the link. Bad move! Instantly, the message was being sent to everyone on my AIM buddy list. It managed to send the malicious message to about 10 people before I unplugged the Ethernet cable. Within one minute, AVG alerted me of a Trojan horse.

I was able to clean the malware by using AVG, and everything works fine. I haven't had a problem since. But it just goes to show you, no matter how much you know or how well you are protected, you can still get hit with malware.

P.S. Just recently, I bought a Mac, but I still have to be careful because many people I know use Windows. I don't want to pass viruses on to them. So, even though I have a Mac, I still use ClamWin Antivirus every couple of weeks, just in case.

-Chris
Newport, Rhode Island

Reply from the Download.com editors:

It's unsettling to think of malware as cutting-edge technology, but its trickery has been known to evolve with Internet advances. Take, for example, the dreaded zero-day exploits that immediately follow the release of a new product feature or patch. The more popular a program, platform, or service is, the more fiscally important it becomes to malware authors. Consider, for example, the ceaseless Internet Explorer hacks and those sensationalist Hotmail and PayPal phishing e-mails that constantly batter our in-boxes.

Related to phishing spam is IM spam, or spim. The bogus messages appear from a friend on your buddy list and urgently mandate that you follow an infected link. Oftentimes these links are home to self-perpetuating worms that spread the scheme through your IM contacts, continuing the cycle. If the "buddy" responsible for your worm is a personal friend you haven't had cause to question, it's a good guess her account was compromised the way yours was. Here's an example of chat phishing spam that used a buddy list as bait and Yahoo 360 as the spoofed product.