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Summary of Friendgreetings E-Card |
| Alias: | E-Card, Friend greetings, Permissioned Media |
| Discovered: |
20 Oct 2002 |
| Definition files: |
12 Nov 2002 |
| Risk Level: |
Low |
| Distribution: | Low |
| Payload: |
Large scale e-mailing |
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| Brief Description |
| The Friend Greetings software is NOT a virus or a worm. It is a new form of SPAM (unsolicited e-mail advertisments).
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| Technical Description |
In the end of October 2002 we started to receive reports from people who got suspicious e-mail messages. These messages looked like this:
From: <sender's name>
To: <recipient's name>
Subject: <recipient's name> you have an E-Card from <sender's name>.
Greetings!
<sender's name> has sent you an E-Card -- a virtual postcard from FriendGreetings.com.
You can pickup your E-Card at the FriendGreetings.com by clicking on the link below.
h t t p://www.friendgreetings.com/pickup/pickup.aspx?code=<recipient's name>&id=<number>
Message:
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<recipient's name>,
I sent you a greeting card. Please pick it up.
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In many cases the was missing from a message.
When a recipient clicked on the link, the Friend Greetings Setup software was downloaded and activated on his computer. That software package was created by Permissioned Media Inc. for advertising purposes. This company appears to be operating from Panama.
During installation the Setup program shows a disclaimer that the software would access a user's Microsoft Outlook address book to send a message to all e-mail addresses it contained.
If a user clicks 'Yes' button, installation continues and the software sends e-mails from a user's name to all his contacts.
If you've been hit by Friendgreetings and want to get rid of it, open up Control Panel and use the "Add/Remove Programs" option to uninstall applications "Friend Greetings" and "WinSrv Reg".
If you're a sysadmin and want to prevent your users from accessing Friendgreetings sites, you can block these web addresses at your firewalls:
List of known Friendgreeting sites (as of 8th of November 2002):
www.friendgreetings.com
www.friendgreetings.net
www.cool-downloads.net
www.cool-downloads.com
www.friend-greetings.com
www.friend-greetings.net
www.friend-cards.net
www.friend-greeting.com
www.friend-greeting.net
www.friend-card.com
www.friend-card.net
www.friend-cards.com
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| Removal Instructions |
Friendgreetings can be removed from the system by using the Add/Remove Programs applet at the Windows Control Panel. Uninstall both "Friend Greetings" and "WinSrv Reg".
If you think Friendgreetings is harmful and unethical, we suggest you complain directly to the company developing and marketing it, Permissioned Media Inc. They can be contacted at:
Support: support@permissionedmedia.com
Sales & Marketing:
marketing@permissionedmedia.com
Fax: 571-628-5535
Permissioned Media Inc.
Sun Towers, 1st Floor, Office #39
Ave. Ricardo J. Alfaro
Panama City, El Dorado Zona 6
Panama
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