Re: new virus warning

[Lee Hickling xywrite@xxxxxxxx]

Incredible. I would have thought that the subscribers to the XyWrite mail
list were too sophisticated to fall for this hoary hoax. I have saved the
headers on the message that appeared this morning, and later on I'm going to
try to reach a random sampling of them to ask where they got this from. I
think there's a magazine piece in it for me.

Meanwhile, just in case anyone is in doubt at all, it's not possible for
your computer to be infected by reading an e-mail message. It is not even
theoretically possible.

It is possible to be infected by running an executable file that arrives
attacked to an e-mail message.

For that reason, I delete all attachments unread, including the ones that
helpful and friendly XPL programmers offer the other subscribers here.

Here's some advice from A. Padgett Petersen, a frequent contributor to the
VIRUS-L mail list:

It's fairly easy to detect a hoax if you follow these simple heuristic tests.
First you must separate the actual warning from the mass of forwarding
that usually accompanies them. Then look for these:
1) No date on warning (to keep it alive)
2) No identifiable sender
3) No identification of affected platform, just "E-Mail".
4) Immediate catastrophic damage on opening
  - typically affects "entire disk"
5) No means of recovery
6) No reporting agency
7) Advises to "forward to everyone you know"
Occasionally will contain agency (CERT/CIAC/FCC) heading but no
internal point of contact or preparer will be identified.
If four of the seven heuristic signs are there, you probably have a
hoax. Good luck.

>>>Anyone who receives this must send it to as many people as you can. It is
>>>essential that this problem be reconciled as soon as possible. A few hours
>>>ago, I opened an E-mail that had the subject heading of "AOL4FREE.COM".
>>>Within seconds of opening it, a window appeared and began to display my
>>>files that were being deleted. I immediately shut down my computer,
>>>but it was too late. This virus wiped me out. It ate the Anti-Virus
>>>Software that comes with the Windows '95 Program along with F-Prot AVS.
>>>Neither was able to detect it. Please be careful and send this to as
>>>many people as possible, so maybe this new virus can be eliminated.
Lee Hickling