Re: virus: VIRUS ALERT !! (was GOOD TIMES)

Drakir (Drahcir@tripod.net)
Wed, 13 Aug 1997 15:11:38 +0100


John,

Cheers for the info. I've passed it onto one of my colleagues, who has
an interest in this kind of thing also. It is truly an efficient meme
if a company can see fit to pass it around /all/ of its employees
(10,000+).

John ''Actual Size'' Williams wrote:
>
> At 01:08 PM 8/13/97 +0100, you wrote:
> >I usually wouldn't bother forwarding any kind of message like this, but
> >since it came round the building flash-mail I figured that it might be
> >worth sending, since anyone sending hoax emails round like that is
> >liable to get their arse chewed off by management.
> >
> >I've stripped off all email addresses, purely as protocol.
> >
> >Highly infectious meme, or real threat, do you think?
>
> The aol4free thought-virus is even worse than the GOOD TIMES virus, because
> there *is* an aol4free trojan horse that does something similar. See this
> CIAC[1] Bulletin [http://ciac.llnl.gov/ciac/bulletins/h-47a.shtml]: "CIAC
> has obtained a Trojaned copy of AOL4FREE.COM that destroys hard drives.
> NOTE: This is different from the AOL4FREE Virus Warning hoax message."
>
> Since it's a trojan horse, McAfee Virus Scan won't detect it.
>
> This is cunning, since if Clueless X goes to his friend who told him Good
> Times is a hoax and says, "is aol4free a hoax too?" Clueless X's friend
> will say "no" and pass it along.
>
> However, the virus does not work as described; opening the e-mail message
> does not activate the trojan horse. Like all trojan horses, you have to
> actually run the program.
>
> "Penpal Greetings," of course, is just a mutation of the Good Times virus.
> >From the CIAC: "The PENPAL GREETINGS! Hoax shown below appears to be an
> attempt to kill an e-mail chain letter by claiming that it is a self
> starting Trojan that destroys your hard drive and then sends copies of
> itself to everyone whose address is in your mailbox."
> "http://ciac.llnl.gov/ciac/CIACHoaxes.html"
>
> In case anyone's interested in the flap this like this caused:
> http://ciac.llnl.gov/ciac/bulletins/h-05.shtml [and other links contained
> within]
>
> (Offical CIAC statement on the Good Times virus, among others...)
>
> Here's something interesting I need to check out; someone watchdoging virus
> hoaxes:
>
> http://kumite.com/myths/
>
> A history of "Good Times" is here:
> http://www.nsm.smcm.edu/News/GTHoax.html
> (I was hit by the first varient! Of course, it didn't fool me, since I knew
> what E-Mail was and was not...)
>
> Let me know if you find any other interesting Virus Hoax stuff: I love
> reading about these! :-)
>
> -- John
>
> ---
> [1]U.S. Department of Energy Computer Incident Advisory Capability
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
> John Williams ICQ Address: 1213689 prefect@tricon.net
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
> "See my loafers? Former gophers!"
> Various Artists: Raising the Tide of Mediocrity for Two Years
> http://www.3wave.com/~prefect/

-- 
                  Drakir
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