People. Take a hint. E-mail virii -do- -not- -exist-. Speaking as a
software engineer and systems administrator... this cannot happen.
Following is a letter written by Ben Taylor and sent around to his
friends. I find it a good form response to these virus alerts. If you
need more information on e-mail virii hoaxes, see the URL for the CIAC
report on them, in the message listed below. For those who are truly
paranoid, Ben even included his PGP signature. :P
I realize this verges on spam, but I'm hoping people will read this and
give up on this e-mail virus thread -before- it starts. I guarantee that
continuing the e-mail virus thread is a -very- good way to get kicked off
the list as soon as Tybalt returns.
Ben Taylor's letter follows:
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
This alert is a virus! Communicate it to all your friends!
If you are new to the Net you may be susceptible to a damaging con
played time and time again! This message is an antidote you & your
friends need to defend against this waste of our Time, Energy, &
Money!
The Computer Incident Advisory Capability, which responds to viruses
and other violations of computer security, says "interspersed among
real virus notices are computer virus hoaxes. While these hoaxes do
not infect systems, they are still time consuming and costly to
handle. At CIAC, we find that we are spending much more time
de-bunking hoaxes than handling real virus incidents."
We must be on the Look Out for these FAKE virus alerts, but that is
not all! New, naive e-mail users are coming online EVERY DAY, and
many of them will *retransmit* such hoax reports -- innocent of the
awareness that such reports could be false! As informed 'Net users,
we must reach them BEFORE such hoaxes do -- and there is no time like
the present! These are fast, strange days, times when our system
admins and the CIAC do *not* need to hold the anti-hoax fort on their
own! Please spread this antidote-virus instead!
THE STRAIGHT DOPE:
Your computer cannot contract a virus from e-mail. The text of an
electronic mail message is as inert as the words on a page - lifeless
until our eyes give them life.
Some, but not all, mail readers may be capable of storing a program
sent in an e-mail message, but they certainly won't run them
automatically. Viruses can only propagate through otherwise useful
functions - just as you can catch a genetic virus through your mouth
because it's useful to eat, drink, and breathe, your computer can
catch a programmed virus through floppies because it's useful to run
programs stored on them. Until it's good for mail readers to run
commands from e-mail when you open them for reading, catching a virus
from your e-mail is as likely as catching mono from the tooth fairy.
But the cost of virus hoaxes is very real -- the hundreds of hours
lost by the men and women who keep the Internet running & secure, and
the lost time of innocent new users sending this misinformation,
all besides the *fear* and *distress* such hoaxes generate!
If you DO receive notice of a new virus, do not repeat it -- NOT
without confirming the report with someone more knowledgeable, such as
your system administrator. (If you don't know who this is -- find out
before the alarm sounds!) But more than that, always exercise
scepticism and a grain of salt when you read something on the 'Net --
use your own best judgement before doing anything you're asked to do.
For THAT matter, don't take MY word for IT! Surf the CIAC's own page
on Internet Hoaxes yourself:
http://ciac.llnl.gov/ciac/CIACHoaxes.html
Remember, in cyberspace, what you learn you inherit the obligation to
teach. Have a good day!
-><-
ben taylor . . . . . 171 berkeley st, rochester, new york 14607
. . . btaylor@rochgrp.com
"1. Ye have locked yerselves up in cages of fear--and, behold, do ye
now complain that ye lack FREEDOM!"
~~ Chapter 1, Epistle to the Paranoids -- Lord Omar
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ben taylor
The Rochester Group