HARDY FORUM ARCHIVE H9886 11/26/98 "INTERNET VIRUS WARNING" ==================================================== Date: Thu, 26 Nov 1998 09:28:27 +0100 From: Birgit Plietzsch Subject: Fw: Internet virus Dear All, The following message has reached me. It may be a hoax, but what if it isn't ... Best regards, Birgit Plietzsch > ---------- >From: Oberholtzer, Tim >To: Walnut Creek - All Users >Date: Monday, November 23, 1998 11:01AM > >If you receive an e-mail titled "WIN A HOLIDAY" do not open it, it will >erase everything on your hard drive. Forward this letter out to as many >people as you can. This is a new, very malicious virus and not many people >know about it. This information was announced yesterday morning from >Microsoft, please share it with everyone that might access the Internet. >Once again, pass this along to EVERYONE in your address book so that this >may be stopped. Also, do not open or even look at any mail that says >"RETURNED OR UNABLE TO DELIVER" this virus will attach itself to your >computer components and render them useless. Immediately delete any mail >items that say this. AOL has said that this is a very dangerous virus and >that there is NO remedy for it at this time. Please practice precautionary >measures and forward this to all your on-line friends. >Kimberly J. Griggs >Accounting Manager >Gateway Systems Corporation >4660 S.Hagadorn, Suite 110 >East Lansing, MI ********** From: enl090@abdn.ac.uk Subject: Re: Fw: Internet virus Date: Thu, 26 Nov 1998 10:21:19 +0000 (GMT) list Status: Dear all Please don't worry about this sort of hoax virus alert. Simply reading an e-mail cannot do anything to your machine. Even if a virus is put into an e-mail attachment, your normal virus scanner will detect it before it can do any harm. Best regards to all Martin Dr Martin Ray Department of English University of Aberdeen Aberdeen Scotland, UK m.ray@abdn.ac.uk ********** Date: Thu, 26 Nov 1998 11:31:59 -0500 To: HARDY-L@coyote.csusm.edu From: Rosemarie Morgan (Seth Lachterman) Subject: Re: Fw: Internet virus Facts and myths of internet viruses: I have seen unwarranted warnings posted to induce e-panic; I have also seen "poison Java" applets disable systems. One client of mine visited a web-site, downloaded a picture, clicked on the picture, and had his IP settings change to "little smiling faces." Forensics (personally done) verified all of this. Mail-bombs exist, malicious scripts exist, it all REALLY exists. However, much depends on the client-side (i.e. the email client software, the browser) in aiding a malicious prank. Technically, Java is not supposed to write data, innocent or not, to a local machine. However, JavaScript *can* write "cookies." Anytime a program writes to a local hard drive, trouble may be anticipated. Furthermore, taking advantage of known bugs in Microsoft software is a typical Trojan horse technique. Knowing some of the internal ways a Microsoft mail program functions can be enough for a devious mind. In twenty years I've seen viruses do their nasty work causing endless hours of pain; the losses can be measured in tens of thousands of dollars and months of lost time. By the way, I think that "anti-virus" programs are not any sort of panacea -- they can degrade the performance of PCs, some give rise to system crashes, but, what is worse, they can give the user a false sense of security. As we speak, new viruses are being brewed by clever, sick people. My advice: Safe computing (1) Never accept a disk or software from ANYONE that isn't "shrink wrapped" commercial grade. (2) Going to wayward, salacious Internet sites and downloading pictures is a risk -- mind you, millions do this each day, but there are risks (3) Don't open junk email, email without subjects -- just erase. Finally, all of the above does *not* imply that any warning about email bombs is necessarily valid, honest, or not a prank in itself. Happy Thanksgiving! Seth Lachterman TTHA Dweeb **********