I was nearly caught by this MSN messenger phishing scam (I think) pointing me to some interesting photos of me

All of a sudden a popup appeared telling me that one of my MSN messenger buddies had found some interesting pictures of me on the Internet… this of course raised my curiosity so I clicked on the link to the pictures. 

A web form opened:

“Welcome back!  Please login with your msn to continue…  pics for msn friends 1.1c  currently 37 pictures in private gallery.”

So, not thinking too much :( and knowing that the original MSN message came from one of my buddies, I typed in my MSN email address and then my password.
I was about to press enter, when I realised something was amiss.  I’m not sure what triggered my suspicions (perhaps it was the poor capitalisation), but I decided to read the “Terms and Conditions” page (pasted below, with all the original spelling mistakes, and “interesting” statements underlined).

Well, after reading the “Terms and Conditions” page, all I can say is “At least they are being honest about being dis-honest”!!!!  And needless to say, I decided NOT to press the “Sign in” button.

OK, so why did I get the message?
Is my PC infected with some sort of virus?
Is my buddy’s PC infected with some sort of virus?
Has my buddy’s MSN login been compromised?

After Googling a bit, I think (not conclusive at this stage) that a virus is not involved.  But I suspect that my buddy’s account has been compromised. 

I called my buddy and told him to change his password.  Hopefully that’s sorted out the problem. 

Remember, if you get a similar popup then don’t enter your real username and password!

“
Terms of Use / Privacy Policy:

{HTT has highlighted and underlined various statements below – the original was plain text}

By filling out this form, you authorize Tubela Management, Inc to spread the word about this 100% real and upcomming Messenger Community Site.  You will receive your share of the credit in helping us spread the word. This is a harmless Community site which is offering users a platform to meet each other for free.

We do not share your private information with any third parties.  By using our service/website you hereby fully authorize Tubela Management, Inc to send messages of a commercial nature via Instant Messages and E-Mails on behalf of third parties via the information you provide us. This is not a "phishing" site that attempts to "trick" you into revealing personal information. Everything we do with your information is disclosed here. If you are under eighteen (18), you MUST obtain permission from a parent or guardian before using our website/service.

This page is not affiliated with or operated by Microsoft (tm) or MSN Network (tm).

ANY LIABILITY, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION ANY LIABILITY FOR DAMAGES CAUSED OR ALLEGEDLY CAUSED BY ANY FAILURE OF PERFORMANCE, ERROR, OMISSION, INTERRUPTION, DEFECT, DELAY IN OPERATION OR TRANSMISSION, COMMUNICATIONS LINE FAILURE, SHALL BE STRICTLY LIMITED TO THE AMOUNT PAID BY OR ON BEHALF OF THE SUBSCRIBER TO THIS SERVICE.

We may temporarily access your MSN account to do a combination of the following: 1. Send Instant Messages to your friends promoting this site. 2. Introduce new entertaining sites to your friends via Instant Messages.

This is a free service. You will not be asked to pay at any time. You will not be subscribed to anything asking for payment. This service is made possible by many hours of human effort.

Tubela Management, Inc reserves the right to change the terms of use / privacy policy at any time without notice. To view the latest version of this privacy policy, simply bookmark this page for future reference.

You understand that this agreement shall prevail if there is any conflict between this agreement and the terms of use you accepted when you signed up with MSN. You also understand that by temporarily accessing your msn account, Tubela Management, Inc is NOT agreeing to MSN's terms of use and therefore not bound by them.

This agreement shall be construed and governed by the law of the republic of Panama. You expressly consent to the exclusive venue and personal jurisdiction of the courts located in the Republic of panama for any actions arising from or relating to this agreement.

If any provision of this agreement is held to be invalid, illegal or unenforceable for any reason, such invalidity, illegality or unenforceability shall not effect any other provisions of this agreement, and this agreement shall be construed as if such invalid, illegal or unenforceable provision had not been contained herein.

Copyright 2008 Tubela Management, Inc
”


Update on Thursday 27Aug2009:  I just received another popup – this time containing the following text: “phewww +o( unbelivable, is that you??? who ever is it...is really similar to you lol ...
http://I-Got-Obsessed.com/?gallery=buddy’s_name&pic=DSC00457.JPG”

So, you think it's convenient to get your browser to remember passwords?.... what if a virus/worm attacks and harvests those passwords???

Gulp!!! Yes, I'm guilty as charged.... I thought the same - "Oh, it's so convenient to use the browser's "secure login" add-on" [for Firefox users] or Ctrl-Enter for Opera's "Magic wand" functionality. BUT.... yes, there's a big but....
In the light of more and more vicious viruses and worms out there - I'm sure that it's relatively easy for one of them to export your browser's passwords to a file and post it to their "repositories"?
Maybe, maybe not - but for me, I'd rather be safe than sorry, and so I have decided to use a more secure way of storing my (very) numerous passwords.
I've decided to use KeyPass (http://keepass.info/index.html) that's free and there are tools to export the passwords from Firefox and Opera so that the migration is painless:

1) Export your Firefox passwords to xml using this Add-on:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/2848
Install it, and export all your passwords into an xml file onto your computer.
NOTE: This xml file contains ALL your passwords (and matching web page addresses) in an UNencrypted form - so be careful with this file.

2) To import the passwords into KeePass you'll need to convert the XML into CSV format - so that KeePass understands.
Use this tool to do the conversion: http://keepass.info/extensions/base/convert_to_csv/FirefoxXmlTo1xCsv-01.zip
Download the zip file to your computer;
Unzip it to a folder
Drag and drop the xml file over the xml2csv.exe (literally - this means drag 'n drop) - and it creates a new file in the directory where your XML resides - with the XML-Filename extended by "_EXPORT.csv"

3) In KeyPass: File->Import From->csv file->select the .csv file -> Open
and your passwords will be imported :)

4) Go to a web site that requires a password and (in KeyPass) right click on the entry and select "Perform Auto-Type"
The username and password will be entered automatically into the web site.

For Opera users:
See this blog for more info: "Using KeePass with Opera" http://jean-francois.im/2009/03/using-keepass-with-opera.html

...and your passwords are now securely stored inside KeePass's encrypted master password protected environment.

Oh.... don't forget to delete those passwords inside your browser's "Secure login" and "Magic Wand"!