If you want to buy me…
… here’s the minimum opening bid: I am worth $3,328,270 on HumanForSale.com. How much are you worth?
Skype Storm Worm is not a Worm. It’s a Virus!
I’m going to lay down the law here on the Storm Worm’s latest incarnation, w32/Ramex.A or W32/Skipi.A or W32.Pykspa.D. Although the official Skype blog refers to it as either “the worm” or “a virus”, their copy makes it clear that the Skype Storm Worm cannot spread without manual user action:
Skype has learned that a computer virus called “w32/Ramex.A” is affecting users of Skype for Windows. Users whose computers are infected with this virus will send a chat message to other Skype users asking them to click on a web link that can infect the computer of the person who receives the message.
Dwight Silverman gives a good overview about what exactly it does to convince a user to open the evil .scr file and infect themselves. After all, who wouldn’t click “NFL Season Is Here!”? That said, a computer worm is actually a lot more serious:
A computer worm is a self-replicating computer program. It uses a network to send copies of itself to other nodes (computer terminals on the network) and it may do so without any user intervention.
If this were a worm, all of Skype’s 10,000,000 users would have been infected in minutes, doubling or tripling the size of the “Storm Worm” botnet. So, you idiot bloggers, before you write something that scary, make sure you use the right terminology. I saw the headlines this morning at work and had a heart attack, and then read the story and cooled off. But, it’s probably not good for my blood pressure o_O.
Amazon.com Redesign: Wow, it’s Different
There is nothing on the major blogs yet, but our friend Amazon.com has a shocking new homepage. I don’t like it much:
According to their remodelling page, they have changed the following:
- Moved all their product categories to the left side using flyout links
- Placed more emphasis on gift lists and wish lists
- Provided more emphasis on their Prime program with a top-level link
- Emphasized search with a larger bar
- Changed to a different shade of blue
They have the following notice which states that not everyone may be able to see the page:
We’re still in our testing phase, and you may not see the new design all the time.
Why change? According to Amazon, “When Amazon.com went online in 1995, we sold only books. Now we have over 40 departments, from tools to toys, and we wanted to make it easier for you to find items in each and every one of them.” If you hate the new layout, let Amazon know by emailing navigation@amazon.com!