Virus Warning

[Bendayan, Maurice]

PLEASE, PLEASE!!!! Before sending any warning messages about viruses, please check that the virus is not in fact a hoax. One of the clearest indications that it is a hoax is if you are asked to send the warning to everyone you know. This is how virus hoaxes propagate.
Please check the following site first to verify that it is a hoax if you are not sure:
http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/hoax.html

About this particular hoax:
http://service1.symantec.com/sarc/sarc. ... r.You.html

-----Original Message-----
From: CVDH [mailto:cvdh@mid.igs.net]
Sent: 2001/02/16 8:59 PM
To: Rebel Ramble List; Brian Chattell
Subject: Fw: Virus Warning
Importance: High



----- Original Message ----- From: M.V.D.H. (mvdh@mid.igs.net)
To: Wendy Lang (wlang21@hotmail.com) ; Steve & Christie (kloske@execulink.com) ; Sheila Munt (damsam@sympatico.ca) ; Ryan McMahon (rmcmahon@odyssey.on.ca) ; Scott Matthews (sxmatthews@look.ca) ; Poly One -Scott Semmelroth (scott.semmelroth@polyone.com) ; Neil McGowan (nmcgowan@mid.igs.net) ; Mark Verbeek (Verbeemp@novachem.com) ; LDI - Dad Home (cvdh@mid.igs.net) ; Kevin Hutchings (hutching@ebtech.net) ; Kathleen Phillips (kate@protech.ws) ; Jules & Lisa Vallee (vallee@mid.igs.net) ; Jag Chaudhri (jagsexy@hotmail.com) ; Don & Kathy Herring (dherring@iprimus.ca) ; Dan Irvine - Home (dkrvn@sympatico.ca) ; Bobbi-Work (bcanning@trca.on.ca) ; Can. Colors - Mike Tutka (mtutka@cccplastics.com)
Sent: Friday, February 16, 2001 3:12 PM
Subject: Virus Warning

: A new virus has just been discovered that
has been classified by Microsoft ( www.microsoft.com ) and by McAfee (
www.mcafee.com ) as the most destructive ever! This virus was discovered
yesterday afternoon by McAfee and no vaccine has yet been developed. This
virus simply destroys Sector Zero from the hard disk, where vital
information for its
functioning are stored. This virus acts in the following manner:
It sends itself automatically to all contacts on your list with the title "A
Virtual Card for You". As soon as the supposed virtual card is opened, the
computer freezes so that the user has to reboot. When the ctrl+alt+del keys
or the reset button
are pressed, the virus destroys Sector Zero, thus permanently destroying
the hard disk. Yesterday in just a few hours this virus caused panic in New
York, according to news broadcast by CNN (www.cnn.com ). This alert was
received by an employee of Microsoft itself. So don't open any mails with
subject
"A Virtual Card for You". As soon as you get the mail, delete it.
Please pass on this mail to all your friends.

[CVDH]

If this virus is a hoax, it is a pretty good one-- I guess both my blocker program which tells me where this particular virus was hidden, and my virus detection system which told me not to open up this sucker must be on the blink???

I guess I spent over $280.00 for nothing!!!!!!!!!

The next virus I get I will just delete and forget about it ------ And let the experts warn you.

For your information, my computers both at home and at my place of business have been wiped out 2 times prior to having my blocker and detection systems put in place. (it only cost me 3 days and close to $7K)
I----- Original Message -----
From: Bendayan, Maurice (maurice@sciex.com)

To: 'rebel-ramble@dcsol.com' ([email]\'rebel-ramble@dcsol.com\'[/email]) ; Brian Chattell (chattellb@home.com)
Sent: Friday, February 16, 2001 10:29 PM
Subject: RE: Virus Warning


PLEASE, PLEASE!!!! Before sending any warning messages about viruses, please check that the virus is not in fact a hoax. One of the clearest indications that it is a hoax is if you are asked to send the warning to everyone you know. This is how virus hoaxes propagate.
Please check the following site first to verify that it is a hoax if you are not sure:
http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/hoax.html

About this particular hoax:
http://service1.symantec.com/sarc/sarc. ... r.You.html

-----Original Message-----
From: CVDH [mailto:cvdh@mid.igs.net]
Sent: 2001/02/16 8:59 PM
To: Rebel Ramble List; Brian Chattell
Subject: Fw: Virus Warning
Importance: High



----- Original Message ----- From: M.V.D.H. (mvdh@mid.igs.net)
To: Wendy Lang (wlang21@hotmail.com) ; Steve & Christie (kloske@execulink.com) ; Sheila Munt (damsam@sympatico.ca) ; Ryan McMahon (rmcmahon@odyssey.on.ca) ; Scott Matthews (sxmatthews@look.ca) ; Poly One -Scott Semmelroth (scott.semmelroth@polyone.com) ; Neil McGowan (nmcgowan@mid.igs.net) ; Mark Verbeek (Verbeemp@novachem.com) ; LDI - Dad Home (cvdh@mid.igs.net) ; Kevin Hutchings (hutching@ebtech.net) ; Kathleen Phillips (kate@protech.ws) ; Jules & Lisa Vallee (vallee@mid.igs.net) ; Jag Chaudhri (jagsexy@hotmail.com) ; Don & Kathy Herring (dherring@iprimus.ca) ; Dan Irvine - Home (dkrvn@sympatico.ca) ; Bobbi-Work (bcanning@trca.on.ca) ; Can. Colors - Mike Tutka (mtutka@cccplastics.com)
Sent: Friday, February 16, 2001 3:12 PM
Subject: Virus Warning

: A new virus has just been discovered that
has been classified by Microsoft ( www.microsoft.com ) and by McAfee (
www.mcafee.com ) as the most destructive ever! This virus was discovered
yesterday afternoon by McAfee and no vaccine has yet been developed. This
virus simply destroys Sector Zero from the hard disk, where vital
information for its
functioning are stored. This virus acts in the following manner:
It sends itself automatically to all contacts on your list with the title "A
Virtual Card for You". As soon as the supposed virtual card is opened, the
computer freezes so that the user has to reboot. When the ctrl+alt+del keys
or the reset button
are pressed, the virus destroys Sector Zero, thus permanently destroying
the hard disk. Yesterday in just a few hours this virus caused panic in New
York, according to news broadcast by CNN (www.cnn.com ). This alert was
received by an employee of Microsoft itself. So don't open any mails with
subject
"A Virtual Card for You". As soon as you get the mail, delete it.
Please pass on this mail to all your friends.

[Bendayan, Maurice]

Instead of blaming me for telling you this was a hoax, perhaps you should consider reviewing the effectiveness of your 'blocker' program. Go ahead and believe your 'blocker' program if you want; I for one will believe the word of authorities on this subject like the Sarc antivirus research centre, the Carnegie Mellon Software Engineering institute operated by Carnegie Mellon University, Rob Rosenberg who is an internationally recognized expert on computer virus myths & hoaxes, Command Software which makes F-Prot antivirus, CIAC and even Mcafee themselves (which the warning you sent mentions as one of the companies that warned about this 'destructive' virus).

All these authorities on viruses (and many more) say this was a hoax. You claim it isn't. Sorry, but I choose to believe the authorities on this subject. Even CIAC asks you not to propagate hoaxes http://hoaxbusters.ciac.org/HBHoaxInfo.html#valid
CIAC stands for Computer Incident Advisory Capability from the US Department of Energy.( http://www.ciac.org/ )

Having said that, I never intended to attack you for sending this warning. I know that it was well intentioned. I simply wanted to give you and everyone else in this list some information and a way to check virus hoaxes before propagating them. It may not seem as a big deal to you, but I work as Network & Computer Support for a fairly large organization and I know first hand how disruptive virus hoaxes can become. We educate our users regularly about hoaxes and we still receive warnings about them.

Crying wolf every time there is a new hoax is the first step in making everyone not believe anything anymore and ignore warnings about real viruses when they do eventually show up.

Maurice
Validating a WarningCIAC recommends that you DO NOT circulate warnings without first checking with an authoritative source. Authoritative sources are your computer system security administrator, your computer incident handling team, or your antivirus vendor. Real warnings about viruses and other network problems are issued by computer security response teams (CIAC, CERT, ASSIST, NASIRC, etc.) and are digitally signed by the sending team using PGP. If you download a warning from a team's web site or validate the PGP signature, you can usually be assured that the warning is real. Warnings without the name of the person sending the original notice, or warnings with names, addresses and phone numbers that do not actually exist are probably hoaxes. Warnings about new malicious code are also available at the antivirus vendors sites and at the operating system's vendor site.
A Virtual Card for You virus
This hoax virus alert started making the rounds again -- but this time, gullible people swamped Microsoft with requests for more info. ("It's bogus. Thanks for writing to Microsoft.") Old hoaxes never die, they just get a new life-cycle... [1/18/01]
http://www.vmyths.com/



-----Original Message-----
From: CVDH [mailto:cvdh@mid.igs.net]
Sent: 2001/02/18 11:36 AM
To: Rebel Ramble List
Subject: Re: Virus Warning

If this virus is a hoax, it is a pretty good one-- I guess both my blocker program which tells me where this particular virus was hidden, and my virus detection system which told me not to open up this sucker must be on the blink???

I guess I spent over $280.00 for nothing!!!!!!!!!

The next virus I get I will just delete and forget about it ------ And let the experts warn you.

For your information, my computers both at home and at my place of business have been wiped out 2 times prior to having my blocker and detection systems put in place. (it only cost me 3 days and close to $7K)
I----- Original Message -----
From: Bendayan, Maurice (maurice@sciex.com)

To: 'rebel-ramble@dcsol.com' ([email]\'rebel-ramble@dcsol.com\'[/email]) ; Brian Chattell (chattellb@home.com)
Sent: Friday, February 16, 2001 10:29 PM
Subject: RE: Virus Warning


PLEASE, PLEASE!!!! Before sending any warning messages about viruses, please check that the virus is not in fact a hoax. One of the clearest indications that it is a hoax is if you are asked to send the warning to everyone you know. This is how virus hoaxes propagate.
Please check the following site first to verify that it is a hoax if you are not sure:
http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/hoax.html

About this particular hoax:
http://service1.symantec.com/sarc/sarc. ... r.You.html

-----Original Message-----
From: CVDH [mailto:cvdh@mid.igs.net]
Sent: 2001/02/16 8:59 PM
To: Rebel Ramble List; Brian Chattell
Subject: Fw: Virus Warning
Importance: High



----- Original Message ----- From: M.V.D.H. (mvdh@mid.igs.net)
To: Wendy Lang (wlang21@hotmail.com) ; Steve & Christie (kloske@execulink.com) ; Sheila Munt (damsam@sympatico.ca) ; Ryan McMahon (rmcmahon@odyssey.on.ca) ; Scott Matthews (sxmatthews@look.ca) ; Poly One -Scott Semmelroth (scott.semmelroth@polyone.com) ; Neil McGowan (nmcgowan@mid.igs.net) ; Mark Verbeek (Verbeemp@novachem.com) ; LDI - Dad Home (cvdh@mid.igs.net) ; Kevin Hutchings (hutching@ebtech.net) ; Kathleen Phillips (kate@protech.ws) ; Jules & Lisa Vallee (vallee@mid.igs.net) ; Jag Chaudhri (jagsexy@hotmail.com) ; Don & Kathy Herring (dherring@iprimus.ca) ; Dan Irvine - Home (dkrvn@sympatico.ca) ; Bobbi-Work (bcanning@trca.on.ca) ; Can. Colors - Mike Tutka (mtutka@cccplastics.com)
Sent: Friday, February 16, 2001 3:12 PM
Subject: Virus Warning