1. Yahoo security has let us down and done us all harm, by allowing the " NEW GRAPHIC SITE " Yahoo Mail worm to propagate due to a KNOWN FLAW in Yahoo's web email system with Java.

I originally kept my Java shut down most of the time, but it was necessary to start it while using Yahoo mail, simply because Yahoo has intertwined its web mail system with it. The reason they did that is so they could push advertising to us. Now it has backfired.

We don't need any more fancy UI (User Interfaces) like the new Yahoo Beta Mail. What we need is less BLOATWARE and more attention to real security and fast delivery without a lot of fluff and flashy advertising.

Posted at 9:48AM on Jun 14th 2006 by expedition

2. The Yahoo email worm is absolutely NOT CONTAINED. It is running rampant.

Posted at 9:49AM on Jun 14th 2006 by expedition

3. expedition: Thanks for your comment. What do you know that the rest of the world doesn't? i.e. the basis for your claim of "not contained" is needed if it is to be taken seriously.

Posted at 11:28AM on Jun 14th 2006 by Joe Beaulaurier

4. Of the 4 seperate yahoo accounts that I have only one got any of the emails that contained the worm. Of that one account, the emails came only through one yahoogroup. I never really worried about the worm after opening one possibly infected email with basically no content and no adverse effect. Could it be due to my running of Firefox with the Yahoo Ajax plugin (which is better than running the very ill performing beta). I have no clue but I have no reason to go Chicken Little like expedition.

Posted at 12:47PM on Jun 14th 2006 by Max...

5. I have an ID on my Yahoo Messenger Conmtacts called fatouma_salee which refuses to be deleted permanently.
Every time I re-logon it appears again in my contacts. I delete it 2 or 3 times a day. from address book too, but it still reappears. Any fix for this?

Posted at 5:28PM on Jun 15th 2006 by gatow

6. > Joe Beaulaurier wrote
> expedition: Thanks for your comment. What do you
> know that the rest of the world doesn't?
> i.e. the basis for your claim of "not contained"
> is needed if it is to be taken seriously.

What do I know that the rest of the world doesn't?
I'm not an anti-virus expert, employee of an internet company, or a hacker. I'm simply the founder and moderator of a 6500+ member Yahoo group, and an average user of Yahoo email. But, credentials are not really needed to point out that The Emporer Has No Clothes!

Yahoo's statement that the infamous "NEW GRAPHIC SITE" Yahoo email worm "is contained" was simply a public relations spin statement. Nothing more than a well-worded ploy for the appearance of "damage control" while they scurried around trying to fix their real problem: BLOATWARE. When they said they "have it contained", at that very moment, the worm was running rampant on all the Yahoo groups and among Yahoo mail users.

A worm that propagates and runs without downloading any attachment is not benign. Add that to the fact that it instantly copies all your personal email address contacts, along with their names and nicknames, and sends them off to spammers and god knows who else. All the so-called Anti-Virus programs were caught with their pants down. Yahoo was caught with its pants down, in the middle of their campaign touting how their spam and anti-virus protection is so wonderful. Hogwash.

Posted at 11:18PM on Jun 16th 2006 by expedition

7. erm. nope. You still haven't given any information to start convincing me otherwise. I got a bunch of the rogue emails and then they stopped coming. The worm's trick was to call QuickBuilder, a Y! maintained javascript address book/mail application. Common sense would say a tweak to the QuickBuilder application by Y! engineers disables the worm's ability to trigger it. It's a pretty good guess that's what's been done or at least something similar.

Posted at 12:19AM on Jun 17th 2006 by Joe Beaulaurier

8. I've discovered a bug in Yahoo Mail as a result of using Spam Guard.
When you mark a message as spam, the address gets added to your list of blocked email addresses. The FROM address is rarely displayed in the sender field and I never open the email to inspect the FROM address.
PROBLEM: A very important business address of mine was spoofed, and as a result of marking the message(s) as spam, the important address was automatically added to my blocked list. By the time I realized it had happened, I'd already lost many important emails.
I've sent Yahoo several messages about this, but have either gotten no response or a resonse which did not address the problem.
I suggest a feature which allows me to create a list of addresses which should NEVER be added to the blocked list. A Blocked List blocker, if you will.

Posted at 12:50PM on Jun 20th 2006 by JenM

9. My yahoo problem is still not contained and I have not recieved anything from yahoo explaing this worm or helping me fix the problem. I just switched to yahoo beta, I am not getting any emails other than to my bulk folder which is bulging with spam. Word 2000 on my me software does not open as well. I dumped everything with the Me disk and have started all over again putting in firewalls,anti-virus, you know the drill. So its costing me money, time all that stuff, I guess my biggest complaint, and I'm being very nice here, is that yahoo did not contact me about this. Because of there inability to tell the truth I will be moving to another email. Had to vent, Hope someone from yahoo reads this. Thanks.

Posted at 12:33AM on Jun 22nd 2006 by M. Wienert

10. > Joe Beaulaurier wrote:
> erm. nope. You still haven't given any
> information to start convincing me otherwise.
> I got a bunch of the rogue emails and then
> they stopped coming. The worm's trick was to
> call QuickBuilder, a Y! maintained javascript
> address book/mail application.....

Dear Joe,
As I explained earlier, the worm did its job:
It stole all our email address contacts along
with their names and nicknames. Private information that was not "contained" as Yahoo tried to allude.

Yahoo was just too little, too late with their so-called "containment" because the worm had already done its job! NONE of the virus programs worked at all to prevent the theft of our private information. Yahoo did not prevent out private information from being stolen. They let us all down and lulled us into believing their hype about having virus protection and spam protection. Hogwash.

By the way, the number of spam messages/day on yahoo mail has increased within the past few days, which may be attributed to the worm's booty being sold off.

Best Regards,

Posted at 12:06PM on Jun 23rd 2006 by expedition

11. Has this "New Graphic Site" menace spread to Yahoo Messenger also? I got a message recently from a well-known contact pointing me to a Geocities site and I followed it (yeah I know I was stupid - isn't hindsight wonderful?). I was asked to login and I admit this is where I made a mistake, since I don't remember any Geocities site asking me to login to Yahoo to view it. The next day I receive a mail from Yahoo Accounts saying my password has changed!

That's it. I'm unable to retrieve my password, because a.) retrieval through email doesn't work as the scammer must have changed the primary email address and b.) the secret question that's presented to me is definitely *not* something I have set. Infact, the secret question that's presented to me is not among the standard list of questions that's presented when a new account is created.

Needless to say, Yahoo Customer Care doesn't understand that I couldn't have set this secret question and so won't help me, and I'm left wondering how I can retrieve my Flickr Pro account now, which is still valid for almost 21 more months now.

Posted at 2:37PM on Jun 24th 2006 by Prashanth Aditya Susarla

12. Prashanth: Please refer to an earlier post: http://yahoo.weblogsinc.com/2006/05/21/yhoo32-explr-malware-threat-related-to-yahoo-messenger/

Posted at 4:17PM on Jun 24th 2006 by Joe Beaulaurier

13. I have gotten a worm or something in my Yahoo IM. It is listed as mattandzacksdad_2206. It is also in my Yahoo address book. No matter how many times I delete it-it comes back & sometimes multiplies in my address book. Also something has shown up in the audible part of my IM called 2006 FIFA World Cup. How do I get rid of these?
One more question. Wht do I have a limit on the amount of emails that I send out? Sometimes I get told that I have sent my limit for the hour after sending a couple of emails & sometimes I can send out like 10 or 15 emails & will get told that I have sent my limit for the day. Does this happen to everyone? No one else I know has this happening to them. Why me?

Posted at 7:45AM on Jun 26th 2006 by Lori

14. UPDATE! Secondary damage is now in progress from Yahoo Mail Worm. Right at this very moment, and for the past 3 days, all the email address contact lists that the Yahoo Mail Worm stole are now being used to deliver spam and other virii/worms to us... with the "from" addresses appearing to be from our very own contact lists. Thank you, Yahoo, for your stupid mail bloatware and lax attitude about our security and privacy.

Posted at 8:42AM on Jun 28th 2006 by expedition