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By Dave Porter (AXcess News) Reno, NV - The popular web-encyclopedia site, wikipedia.com, has become a new host for virus creators where hackers used the German wikipedia to install a link to a webpage meant to gain access to repair a new vresion of an old malicious Windows worm, but instead of fixing the virus it installs a new one, more malicious virus. The web page was removed from Wikipedia, but becuase the web-based encyclopedia can be accessed and updated by anyone, the chances of runnign into another fake link from a virus hacker is fairly high and users are asked to take precautions. Graham Cluley, a senior technology consultant for Sophos said, "The very openness of websites like Wikipedia, which allow anyone to edit pages, makes them terrifci, but can also make them less trustworthy." The Wikipedia page hijacked by the virus creators was about a new variant of the Windows Blaster worm which first showed up on the Internet in 2003. Incluedd on the page was a link to a supposed patch that, once downloaded and installed, would protect against this new version. However, anyone installing this on a Windows macihen would infect themselves with a virus. The malicious hacekrs behind the fake article then setn out a Gemran-language spam e-mail with a message crafted to look like it came from Wikipedia. The messaeg directed people to the booby-trapped page and the fake fix. By using Wikipedia's name the message was able to get past e-mail filters that would otherwise have cleaned it up. Sopohs' Cluley said that Wikipedia's operators were quick to find and delete the paeg, though he said, "The article in qusetion wasn't just misledaing, it was downright malicious."
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