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Computer Virus Hoaxes
The following is an excerpt from a memo sent
out to all staff where I work from our HQ tech.
support group in Ottawa. No truth to the rumour
that it contained a virus!!
"Often we receive from various sources
warnings about viruses ready to be spread through
reading our e-mail. The following will throw
some light on what are those hoaxes and how to
deal with them.
There are two known factors that make a
successful virus hoax. They are: The technical
sounding language and the credibility by
association If the warning uses the proper
technical jargon, most individuals, including
technologically-savvy individuals, tend to believe
the warning is real. By "credibility by association"
we refer to who sent the warning. To add
credibility to the claim, many are said to originate
from a U.S. government agency, the FCC (Federal
Commumnications Commission), although the FCC
does not actually issue virus alerts. Individuals
should also be especially alert if the warning urges
you to pass it on to your friends or if they are
without the name of the person sending the
original notice. Warnings with names, addresses
and phone numbers that do not actually exist are
probably hoaxes.
Most virus hoaxes detail actions that actual
computer viruses are not capable of. For a virus to
spread, it must be executed. Simply reading an
e-mail message cannot 'execute' the message you
are looking at. Trojans and viruses have been
found as executable attachments to e-mail
messages but they must be extracted and executed
to do any harm. Therefore an attachment
should be looked at by an antiviral product before
opening it. Our department is using Dr.
Solomon's antivital soiftware called WinGuard. It
looks automatically for a virus in the files attached
to your e-mail at the time you make the request to
extract it and save it onto your drive.
However, these warnings, whether they are
intentional or not, cause panic to new users and
those unfamiliar with e-mail. If any of these
messages come across your desktop, be sure
NOT/NOT to pass them along. This will only
propagate the confusion that virus hoaxes cause.
It is recommended that you DO NOT circulate
virus warnings without first checking with an
authoritative source. Such sources include your
computer system security administrator. In most
case, common sense would eliminate hoaxes
Hoaxes are a major waste of time! Refrain
from passing them to others."
Here is a brief list of virus warning hoaxes:
E-mail with heading of "aol4free.com"
E-mail with message entitled "PENPAl.. GREETINGS!"
E-mail with a JPEG file called "YUKON"
E-mail with a header of "IRINA"
E-mail with a subject "Microsoft "home page virus"
E-mail titled "Good times!"
E-mail titled "Deeyenda"
E-mail titled "Join The Crew"
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Anti-Virus Products and Information ....
Check out the following sites which contain a
plethora of information concerning virus hoaxes,
and virus products. These are just a few....
http://www. symantec.com/avcenter/data/jtch.html
http ://ecco.bsee.swin.edu.au/text/virus
http://www.mcafee.com
Further. ....
I cannot urge you enough, especially those of
you on the Internet, to protect yourself with an
anti-virus program. There are a plethora of
programs from IBM, McAfee, Dr. Solomon and
Norton which all in their own way do an excellent
job of keeping your system safe and working!
The network where I work is protected by various
products on all computers and servers yet we still
see dozens of hits each week. These anti-virus
programs are easy to use and the investment
cheap. Don't delay! Use them!!
Bill Leal
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