RE: Beware of attachments!

The use of better OS's than Windows also helps a lot. I have never had any
problem with Linux (and it is free to boot, and rarely if ever crashes...). 
And
even when and if someone writes a virus agains the Linux OS, its internal
structure means that nothing other than what will not have been protected 
within
a given account will be attacked.

Best,

Jean-Claude Guédon


On Fri, 19 May 2000, Boles (office) wrote:

> 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
> >
>