Re: [Fwd: List of Known Macro Viruses: May 1997]

[Leslie Bialler lb136@xxxxxxxx]

hseaver@xxxxxxxx wrote:
>
> Contrary to various assertions that there are no email viri, it has
> been well established that there are indeed such viri, and that they do
> *not* require opening any attachments. Macro viri are activated when you
> open (read) the document.

>   They do, however, only work with certain types of software, namely,
> MS-Word, MS-Mail, Excel, and, more recently, ccmail. -- although there
> may be more that I haven't heard of. And, most definitely, some for
> MS-Mail grab the address list and replicate themselves to those
> addresses.

Thanks for the information.

But IMHO this isn't the point: the point _is_, I believe, that people
ought to be suspicious of messages written so badly that they verge on
parody (which is perhaps the intention in the first place).

It is interesting, too, how valid virus warnings, such as those posted
to the list by D. Day and H. Seaver (and thanks to them for their links)
never reach precisely those individuals who reflexively forward these
badly written hoax messages to every list and news group they suscribe
to, everybody in their address book, and Newt Gingrich, the President,
the Vice President, and, for all I know, Secretary General Kofi Annan
(sp??), and Bill Gates Himself--even though if they took a deep breath
before clicking on the send icon and thought for a moment they would
realize the "warnings" they are sending are total nonsense.

Cheers all!

--Leslie Bialler--
Columbia University Press