Re: yesterday's virus attack on the list

[Ed Cray cray@xxxxxxxx]

Annie:

You are quite right -- as always. The university's server knifed the
virus in the heart. I never even got the message.

Even if I had (he said smugly) I would have been safe. I NEVER open
attachments, even if they come from my sainted mother.

Ed


On Wed, 8 Aug 2001 yesss@xxxxxxxx wrote:

> 	I didn't get this message, so I doubt it
> 	went to the xywrite list. 		--Ed Cray
>
> Yeah, Ed, as others surely have pointed out by now,
> the virus *was* distributed via xylist, as anyone who
> subscribes to the digest can attest. Maybe your system
> administrator has trained your server to recognize and
> filter it as apparently ccat.sas.upenn.edu doesn't?
>
> Two relevant things I've read in the past couple of days:
> A New Yorker Talk of the Town item by Steven Johnson
> http://www.newyorker.com/THE_TALK_OF_THE_TOWN/CONTENT/?talk_mystery_mail
> explains some secondary details, and computer
> industry historian Robert Cringely
> http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/pulpit20010802.html,
> operating out of the PBS site since the fab
> "Revenge of the Nerds" miniseries, points out:
>
> "The wonder of all these Internet security problems is
> that they are continually labeled as `e-mail viruses' or
> `Internet worms,' rather than the more correct designation
> of `Windows viruses' or `Microsoft Outlook viruses.' It
> is to the credit of the Microsoft public relations team
> that Redmond has somehow escaped blame, because nearly
> all the data security problems of recent years have been
> Windows-specific, taking advantage of the glaring security
> loopholes that exist in these Microsoft products. If it
> were not for Microsoft's carefully worded user license
> agreement, which holds the company blameless for absolutely
> anything, they would probably have been awash in class
> action lawsuits by now."
>
> As long as people insist on using Outlook, I guess the
> rest of us will just have to stay alert. ... Ciao. 	--a
>
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