SC - Re: [EK] IMPORTANT WARNING

[Will Linden]

On Mon, 16 Feb 1998, Alderton, Philippa wrote:

> :  Received 11/15
> :  The following people have sent mail bombs and trojan horses to variouas
> AOL
> : members. Please pass their names on, and if you receive any mail from the
> : people on this list PLEASE forward it to TOSemail1. Thank You A TROJAN
> HORSE
> : program is attached to files THEY send and they know your password no
> matter
> : how many times you change it. BE CAREFUL!!!!! 
  And HOW do they have this dangerous ability to know everyone's
passwords, immediately after being changed?
> :  
> :  
> :  Received 12/3
> :   If someone named SandMan asks you to check out his page on the WEB   DO
> : NOT!!!
> :   It is at www.geocities.com/vienna/6318    
> :  This page hacks into your C:/ drive.  DO NOT GO THERE
   Can't. The page in question is a DIRECTORY, as he named his homepage
"INDEX.HTML" instead of "index.html". Loading that might just conceivably 
do something to Java users, but I doubt it.
> : HE WILL REQUEST A CHAT WITH YOU....don't do it. > :  > :  Received
 Just by accessing his page?
> :   
> :  Received 12/9
> :   Subject: New Viruses      
> :          
> :          WARNING!!!! If you receive an e-mail titled "JOIN THE CREW" DO
> NOT
> : open it! It will erase EVERYTHING on your hard drive. Send this  warning
> out
> : to as many people as you can  This is a new virus and not  many people
> know
> : about it.  This information was received on 12/11/97  from IBM, please
> share
> : it with anyone that might access the Internet.
> :          
> :          Also, if anyone receives mail entitled "PENPAL GREETINGS!"  This
> : message appears to be a friendly letter asking you if you are  interested
> in a
> : penpal, but by the time you read this letter, it is too late. The Trojan
> horse
> : virus will have already infected the boot sector of your hard drive,
> : destroying all of the data present. It is a  self-replicating virus, and
> once
> : the message is read, it will 
> :  AUTOMATICALLY forward itself to anyone who's e-mail address is present in
> : YOUR mailbox.  This virus will DESTROY your hard drive and holds the
> potential
> : to DESTROY the hard drive of anyone whose mail is in your in-box and who's
> : mail is in their in-box and so on.
  and so on and on. This imaginary "e-mail virus warning" has been
debunked over and over for YEARS. There is no such thing as a "virus"
which can be launched simply by READING a TEXT message. The real "email
virus" is the proliferation of copies of this bogus "warning" to people's
mailboxes, followed by angry responses like this one.

    The repetition of this hoary net.hoax casts doubt on the rest of the
message.
>

Will Linden  wlinden at panix.com
http://www.panix.com/~wlinden/
Magic Code: MAS/GD S++ W++ N+ PWM++ Ds/r+ A-> a++ C+ G- QO++ 666 Y

============================================================================

To be removed from the SCA-Cooks mailing list, please send a message to
Majordomo at Ansteorra.ORG with the message body of "unsubscribe SCA-Cooks".

============================================================================