DEVON-L Archives

Archiver > DEVON > 1998-03 > 0889537657


From: Richard D Jefford II <>
Subject: Win A Holiday is another hoax virus message, like Good Times....
Date: Tue, 10 Mar 1998 08:47:37 -0500


Hoax Virus Alerts - Update with a couple of new ones appearing at Lilly...

The most popular virus hoax going around at Lilly these days is Win A Holiday.
Also very popular hoaxes are combination virus alerts, such as Joint the Crew,
Penpal Greetings, and Returned Mail.

The recent virus alert forwarded to you about Join the Crew, Penpal Greeting,
and Returned Mail viruses is a hoax alert intended to frighten people into
forwarding it, creating a chain letter like effect, to everyone they know.
99.99% of such email virus alerts are false. Common characteristics hoax
alerts include a credible sounding source for the memo, very nasty things the
virus will do if you even read the text message, and an urgent request for you
to forward the message to all
your friends and family immediately. If you have any doubt, please call
your mini computer consultant to ask about
any virus alerts you receive from outside individuals or organizations before
forwarding them
on to others.

Plain text messages are NOT dangerous. Email attachments or hot buttons
that execute programs within messages can be dangerous and do require
caution, especially if you don't know the
source of the mail.

An excellent website for checking out potential false virus alerts may be
found at:
http://www.kumite.com/myths/home.htm

New stuff and recent flare-ups on the Internet reported by this site include:

Newest hoaxes
Yahoo! world domination virus
Bill Gates $1,000 virus (a.k.a. EEVP virus or embedded
executable virus program)
A.I.D.S. virus (aka Open Very Cool virus)
AOL v4.0 cookie Trojan
Death Ray/Blow Your Mind virus
Returned Mail virus
Bud Frogs virus (possible hoax, but certainly overblown)
Chain letter flare-ups
FCC modem tax alert
Internet shutdown day
AOL password-stealing virus
Mirabilis ICQ virus
Join the Crew virus
Penpal Greetings virus
Newest misconceptions
mIRC Ananas worm
MMX upgrader utility

Dick Jefford II
Operations & Network Security
Eli Lilly & Company

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