RE: Beware of attachments!

Until recently, I was a non-paranoid skeptic of the dangers of opening
attachments.  After a number of people on this campus spread the Melissa
virus, and I nearly opened the attachment myself, I am no longer.  Like
Alan, I no longer open attachments.  I agree with Alan that all material
should be enclosed in the text, even html.

Here's the latest virus warning forwarded from our campus computer center:

May 19, 2000

New Bug Loose in Computers, Experts Say

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

A new virus is eating its way through computers, and this one is smarter and
more destructive than the worldwide "Love Bug" plague that inspired it,
experts say.

While the "Love Bug" was given away by the "ILOVEYOU" subject line of the
e-mails that carried it, the new virus changes subject lines every time it
is sent. It also destroys most of the files on the computers it infects.

"Each time the virus spreads, it mutates itself to evade detection,"
according to Symantec Corp., an anti-virus software maker in Cupertino,
Calif.

The virus was detected at several large companies late Thursday, said Dave
Perry, spokesman for another anti-virus software maker, Trend Micro Inc. in
Cupertino. At one company, 5,000 computers were infected, said Perry, who
would not identify any of the companies affected.

The subject line of an infected e-mail starts with "FW: " and includes the
name of a randomly chosen attachment from a previous e-mail on an infected
computer. The e-mail will have an attachment with the same name, but ending
in ".vbs."

Clicking on the attachment will activate the virus. Like "Love Bug," it will
send itself to everyone in the user's address book. It will then overwrite
most files on the hard drive, rendering the computer useless until the
operating system is reinstalled.

Trend Micro's Perry said he hoped that increased awareness among e-mail
users would hold back the spread of the new virus.

"Any time a virus hits a week after another virus, its potency is
diminished," he said. "People tend to be a little more cautious."


> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-wsn@csf.colorado.edu [mailto:owner-wsn@csf.colorado.edu]On
> Behalf Of Spectors
> Sent: Friday, May 19, 2000 6:08 AM
> To: WORLD SYSTEMS NETWORK
> Subject: Beware of attachments! Can forwarded text messages have
> viruses?
>
>
> With all due respect to S DE and that person's attempt to warn us of a
> possible virus --- wouldn't it be better to simply include the
> TEXT of that
> warning as the TEXT of an email message, RATHER than sending it as an
> attachment?  I am VERY CAUTIOUS about opening attachments, even
> more so from
> someone I don't know because the sender might be a sincere person who
> doesn't know that someone else planted a virus inside that
> attachment.... If
> a nasty third person wanted to spread a virus, what better way would there
> be than to plant it inside a message attachment warning about viruses, and
> send that message on to an unsuspecting innocent person who might then
> unknowingly pass it on.
>
> Re-reading my message, it  does sound paranoid, doesn't it? Except that
> these exact tactics HAVE been done, and recently, and attachments are the
> way they are done. (Unless a "text" attachment can't do it, but I
> would need
> more clarification on that.)
>
>
> In any case, to S DE, I mean no disrespect, and I applaud your efforts to
> warn the WSN list of a possible virus, but I won't open the attachment. I
> just deleted it.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Alan Spector
>