PLEASE ADVISE EVERYONE YOU KNOW 

Subject: A new virus has just been discovered that has been classified by Microsoft (www.microsoft.com) and by McAfee (www.mcafee.com) as the most destructive ever! This virus was discovered yesterday afternoon by McAfee and no vaccine has yet been developed.

It goes on for several paragraphs and gets you really worried.   Should you be?  Important names, indefinite dates, general links (if any), and a warning to forward to everyone you know.  Well, you don't want your friends getting a virus, do you?  You don't have time to research it, or you don't know how, so to be on the safe side, you send it to everyone in your address book.  You'd feel responsible if you didn't send it to someone who later got attacked by the virus, wouldn't you?  Is that a good thing to do? 

Well, that depends; is it really a virus (Worm or whatever variety, they all can make your computer "sick".)  or is it a hoax?  Based on my own e-mail, 99% of the time, or more, it is a hoax.  I used to receive these on a regular basis from friends and family.  I would research them carefully via various search engines and finally narrowed down a few handy websites.  They have been very helpful in determining whether I should be worried and send the warning on, or not worried and reply to the sender (and my fellow recipients, in BCC) that it is a hoax, listing the URLs so they can see for themselves.  I think that this has helped them detect hoaxes themselves, as I receive very few now.

If you're new to the Internet and e-mail, every warning sounds equally ominous.  You wouldn't want that virus yourself, you're glad you were warned, plan to keep an eye out for it, so send the warning on to all your friends.  Everyone of us with an e-mail address has done it.  If you have not, you  were fortunate not to receive the hoaxes yourself before you had the opportunity to differentiate, didn't know how to forward it, didn't have time,  didn't care, or have an innate ability to smell a rat.  If you've been caught, however, you are in good company.

The example at the beginning of this article was taken from a message that was sent to our technology office.  I offered to research it.  The Anna Kournikova Visual Basic script worm was listed prominently on all the sites, but the one I was looking for did not show up at all.  This particular message sounded even more convincing than normal as it included the name and apparently legitimate mailing and e-mail addresses of the sender along with the statement that a coworker's PC had been infected with both of the viruses just the day before.   But it had all the earmarks of a hoax:

		Suggestion that you send to all
		Names of companies or individuals that will give an air of legitimacy
		Links to real sites, but not to specific pages which also mention the "virus"
		Words that make it sound current, but no verifiable dates

Don't misunderstand me, there are real viruses out there, and their most common means of propagation is e-mail.  Viruses, worms, evil-macros and their like are now being written with the ability to send themselves to everyone in an infected computer's Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Express address book.  The need to pay attention and protect your computer and its files is very real.  What should you do?

		Get good anti-virus software - Norton Antivirus & McAfee are good.
		Keep it up-to-date
		Do not open any attachments you receive in e-mail messages unless you were expecting them. (If in doubt, reply to the sender and ask if they intended it to be sent.  I received one of these suspicious messages myself.)
		Do not open any attachments received from a sender unknown to you.
		Be sure your computer isn't set to hide extensions.  The Visual Basic Script viruses have the extension .VBS.  You might think you see a picture file sent to you by a relative, but with extensions hidden, what appears to be Scruffy.jpg is in reality Scruffy.jpg.vbs, just waiting to infect your PC if you try to look at it.
		Be cautious if using chat rooms.  Others there may be able to send you viruses directly depending on what sofware you are using and its settings.  Viruses can also be sent via ICQ, Instant Messenger, and other direct contact software.
		Useful Links
		Welcome to US-CERT
		McAfee - Newly Discovered Malware
		McAfee - Newly Discovered PUPs (Potentially Unwanted Programs)
		Office of Information Technology Virus Notification Program
		McAfee - Alphabetic Hoax List
		Symantec Security Response - Hoaxes
		Symantec Security Response - SULFNBK.EXE Warning
		U.S. DOE-CIAC (Computer Incident Advisory Capability) Website
		Snopes.com

Linda Knight 

MSAD#50 ~ Tech Office ~ Computer Skills