Hi all, I just upgraded from Hardy to Intrepid and when I rebooted there was a wierd icon on my desktop that reads: "Link to French Lingerie - Luxury Lingerie". (see attached screen shot) I am pretty sure I haven't even visited such sites much less installed some kind of icon! Could this be some kind of Virus? Is that even possible!? I'm freaked and help would be appreciated!
Fench Lingerie Icon after upgrade - I'm not making this up!
Archived thread 1000494 from Security. Markdown source: Security/thread_1000494_Fench_Lingerie_Icon_after_upgrade_-_I'm_not_making.md
KenMac said: Hi all,
I just upgraded from Hardy to Intrepid and when I rebooted there was a wierd icon on my desktop that reads: "Link to French Lingerie - Luxury Lingerie". (see attached screen shot) I am pretty sure I haven't even visited such sites much less installed some kind of icon! Could this be some kind of Virus? Is that even possible!? I'm freaked and help would be appreciated!
i think that's the default background for ubuntu 8.10! i have the same desktop background...never changed it! ;)
Hope this helps!
Cheers! :D
Jammanuser said: i think that's the default background for ubuntu 8.10! i have the same desktop background...never changed it! ;)
Hope this helps!
Cheers! :D OP's referring to the icon in the bottom left corner of that screenshot.
That is indeed weird; definitely something I'd expect to see in Windows! Are you sure somebody's not messing around with your system and playing a prank on you?
Jammanuser said: i think that's the default background for ubuntu 8.10! i have the same desktop background...never changed it! ;)
Hope this helps!
Cheers! :D
The shortcut is at the bottom left of the screenshot and would be out of place on my system as well..... I, too, don't know how or why it would have got there.
Is it a real icon, or is it part of the background! =/
Thanks for the responses. It is a real icon and launches a website pertaining to French Lingerie (surprise!). I saw the computer before it was upgraded and was there for the entire upgrade so I don't think anyone is messing with me. Is there such a thing as a virus?
poebae said: OP's referring to the icon in the bottom left corner of that screenshot.
That is indeed weird; definitely something I'd expect to see in Windows! Are you sure somebody's not messing around with your system and playing a prank on you?
oh...i thought he meant the bigger picture...my bad!!! :o
lisati said: The shortcut is at the bottom left of the screenshot and would be out of place on my system as well..... I, too, don't know how or why it would have got there.
same here...i have no idea how that got into ur system, yo! but i would suggest that u delete it IMMEDIATELY, and then possibly scan for any viruses with a program like ClamAV, to make sure that it, and whatever programs or processes possibly installed or started with it, r for sure gone!
Good luck! :D
KenMac said: Thanks for the responses.
It is a real icon and launches a website pertaining to French Lingerie (surprise!). I saw the computer before it was upgraded and was there for the entire upgrade so I don't think anyone is messing with me. Is there such a thing as a virus?
hmmm...yes, its very strange...my above posting still stands! ^ :D
and YES, there IS such a thing as a virus...there's also such a thing as spyware, malware, trojans, etc., although most of these, granted, don't normally work on ubuntu, thanks to its rock-solid protection, and not allowing programs to run as root user, without prompting for a password first...
Again, i think ur best bet would be to download and install (if u have not already!) ClamAV, run a scan with it, post whatever it found here at the forum to make sure that what it found were actually harmful stuff...and if it is, REMOVE it immediately!
Hope this helps! yo!
Jammanuser said: hmmm...yes, its very strange...my above posting still stands! ^ :D
and YES, there IS such a thing as a virus...there's also such a thing as spyware, malware, trojans, etc., although most of these, granted, don't normally work on ubuntu, thanks to its rock-solid protection, and not allowing programs to run as root user, without prompting for a password first...
Again, i think ur best bet would be to download and install (if u have not already!) ClamAV, run a scan with it, post whatever it found here at the forum to make sure that what it found were actually harmful stuff...and if it is, REMOVE it immediately!
Hope this helps! yo!
Yeah, that sound like a plan. I'll give that a shot. Thanks very much for the help.
Did someone else use the system? If you start Firefox you can drag the address-bar to the desktop and it'll automatically create a link to the page the browser was displaying. Maybe your little-brother was looking at some soft-porn? ;)
I just upgraded from Hardy to Intrepid and when I rebooted there was a wierd icon on my desktop...
I am just curious as to how you upgraded. Did you upgrade over top of Hardy or did you wipe it and do a clean install? It is pretty easy for someone to make their own "distribution" of any Linux system and add "features" but the system is yours to do with as you please. Have you checked the properties of the icon/launcher? I wouldn't worry about it, but I probably wouldn't have clicked on it. The great thing about Linux is you can make it how you want it and unmake it just as easily.
How about this, supposing someone put out a download on a website or a torrent of an ISO that was sabotaged, with that link icon, for an advertising experiment, or just to be mischievous.
KenMac said:
I just upgraded from Hardy to Intrepid and when I rebooted there was a wierd icon on my desktop Could this be some kind of Virus? Is that even possible!?
When you updated, did you use an "alternate" cd, or did you update directly from the 'net?
If you used an "alternate" cd, especially one downloaded from a torrent, you should check the md5sum with the check file from the Ubuntu site to ensure that no one has messed around with the files.
If you've downloaded from the 'net, please post your /etc/apt/sources.list file so that we can check if for any suspicious custom repo's or ppa's.
It is a fallacy that linux will not fall prey to viruses, trojans, spyware, malware etc. For example, if you install a suspicious package using sudo, that package, during the installation, can give itself sudo privileges and hence do whatever it wants.
There doesn't seem to be a recorded or reported case of such a happening, but it's wiser to be alert.
Also, I would suggest a commercial anti-virus suggestion such as Kaspersky, or the free (for personal use) AVG linux edition (or is it avast?, can't recall now).
Just out of interest, can you post the link here? (Not "lingerie" interest, but to check the site for trojans, spyware, etc).
my question is Did you by any chance visit this website or anything similar before? If yes it might be a simple case of pulling down the link from Firefox unknowingly. else guys at not only canonical but also all debian developers have work at hand ......... (though I think it highly unlikely)
I'm calling BS on this!! I don't believe you!
prshah said: When you updated, did you use an "alternate" cd, or did you update directly from the 'net?
If you used an "alternate" cd, especially one downloaded from a torrent, you should check the md5sum with the check file from the Ubuntu site to ensure that no one has messed around with the files.
If you've downloaded from the 'net, please post your /etc/apt/sources.list file so that we can check if for any suspicious custom repo's or ppa's.
Just out of interest, can you post the link here? (Not "lingerie" interest, but to check the site for trojans, spyware, etc).
Hi all, Thanks for the replies. When I upgraded I used the Update Manager so I suppose the link could of been a result of something that happened before the upgrade. The weird thing is that the link was not on the desktop before the upgrade. I was a little freaked, so I did a fresh install with a CD downloaded from Canonical's site so I guess there is not much point in posting /etc/apt/sources.list. But here is the link that appeared on the desktop: http://www.azzuma.com/
ooo, I want one of those links too ...
I know what someone is getting for Christmas !
s/Christmas/<Insert_Holiday_or_Birthday>
KenMac said:
McAfee's Site Advisor does not have any warnings / concerns about this site and linked sites.
Must be a fluke.
Do you dual boot?
If so, did you opt to import settings from Windows?
Jimmy9pints said: Do you dual boot?
If so, did you opt to import settings from Windows?
No dual boot - just strait-up Ubuntu. There doesn't seem to be any problems now that I have reinstalled. I kinda of wish that I had waited awhile so that I could have investigated further. It was the weirdest thing!
kevdog said: I'm calling BS on this!! I don't believe you!
I wouldn't. That has happen to me too. I think this is e security issue. I visited a website once without using a firewall. That website installed the same icon on my task bar and could click on it. The link opened the same website i visited. Ubuntu is a more secure OS then some others but i would not use it without a firewall. Internet is an insecure place to be. A fire wall will keep out the BAD guys ONLY!!!!
It's either shqip's explanation or your other half is planning something special...
Any anniversaries soon? Either that or you're gonna have one interesting Christmas day..... :D:D
kevdog said: i'm calling bs on this!! I don't believe you!
+1
@OP,
If it is real, which I doubt, a fresh download and install, will get rid of it.
True.
A firewall is a minimum. For anyone not too advanced, I suggest firestarter.
sudo apt-get install firestarterIt's a very easy to use firewall to use for most people with no big needs.
ndefontenay said: A firewall is a minimum. What for? If you're not running any services (as is the case "out of the box") then there is nothing that would require the protection of a firewall. :D
Besides, a firewall will not protect you against you visiting shady web sites and a firewall will neither change your "clicking behaviour", e.g. if you click on anything that moves ... fine. But there is little a firewall could do against that. :D
KenMac said: wierd icon on my desktop You or someone else probably visited a web site and then (accidentally?) dragged and dropped the URL onto your desktop :D
I can easily reproduce this here ... one accidental drag & drop and I get funny links onto my desktop too. ):P
ndefontenay said: True.
A firewall is a minimum. For anyone not too advanced, I suggest firestarter.
sudo apt-get install firestarterFirestarter is not a firewall. I have had Firestarter installed since day one. I have a different firewall and it is ok, an external one plus i use iptables if i am allowed to.
We really need to move beyond "Firestarter" and "Antivirus" and start using Apparmor
Im going to go with C.
"other half hinting for Xmas".
Atleast I have to be told (hinting doesnt work, I dont pick up on it!) so maybe this is a subtle way of saying what they want...
scorp123 said: What for? If you're not running any services (as is the case "out of the box") then there is nothing that would require the protection of a firewall. :D
I don't understand that.
Before I installed Firestarter, my Ubuntu responded to pings. The firewall-test page over at https://www.grc.com says that it's bad for computers to respond to pings, and that one's computer should be totally stealth.
But - if it's perfectly acceptable to run a computer that responds to all pings that anyone might happen to send it (kind of creepy that some weirdo out there would know exactly when I was online, just by sending me a ping, right?), then I might as well go back to using my old Knoppix Live-CD's (I'd prefer to do that, actually, because I think it's safer than having stuff on the hard-drive), because that's the only reason I quit using Knoppix and installed Ubuntu on the hard-drive instead, so that I could install a proper firewall. (I couldn't figure out how to install anything in Knoppix, aside from using its built-in firewall which does not prevent pings. Until I become a genius, which obviously isn't likely, there is zero-to-no chance of me ever figuring out something like iptables - what I've read about iptables makes me want to throw my PC away, :( it's hopeless trying to understand that stuff).
I only have a modem, no router - is your advice about not using a firewall, for people who have routers or something? Like many other people who have simple (cheap) broadband, I have no clue :( how to set up routers and I probably wouldn't even be able to set up a router in Windows, let alone Linux (I'm good at following directions, but they have to be EXPLICIT and EXACT - none of that "well it will probably look something like this" or "look around and see if you can figure out how to do something-or-other" because that is totally useless). My ISP is also completely useless in that regard - I asked them about routers once, and all they could tell me was to spend more money upgrading to a more expensive account that supported multiple computers, but my ISP doesn't know diddly squat about Linux anyway (even less than *I* do, which is hard to imagine) and they don't support Linux anyway (I must have just got lucky, that their modem software I installed under Windows, happens to work under Linux too with no configuration whatsoever, in a dual-boot system) so the ISP would be of zero help in getting a router configured - so I'm not going to mess with what's already working.
scorp123 said: Besides, a firewall will not protect you against you visiting shady web sites and a firewall will neither change your "clicking behaviour", e.g. if you click on anything that moves ... fine. But there is little a firewall could do against that. :D
Now *that* I understand. :) I never go to questionable websites or click on weird things, :) and Javascript etc. is usually off.
Well, I suggest you stop for a minute and do some reading.
I suggest you start with :
Ubuntu Security - Ubuntu Forums
By default, with Ubuntu, there are no listening servers, so really there is nothing to firewall.
If you wish to enable and configure your firewall, simple :
sudo ufw enableIf you prefer a gui , try gufw.
Additional references :
Uncomplicated Firewall - UFW - Community Ubuntu Documentation
Otherwise I am going to close this thread now as it is old and has gotten off topic.