On Mon, 28 Dec 1998 fawcett@uism.bu.edu wrote:
> For the computer experts among us...
>
> Is this another one of those "the email *is* the virus" types of things or
> is this one *real*?? If this is another hoax, is there a web address to
> check rather than bothering the list with this kind of stuff?
>
Yep, all such notices are hoaxes. The only way for a virus to
get in via e-mail is if its attached to the message as a binary
file and you execute it. Reading the e-mail message won't hurt
anything, even if there actually is a virus infected executeable
attached to it.
Check out http://ciac.llnl.gov/ciac/CIACHoaxes.html for this, and
other such hoaxes. There is also information on the above page about
how to tell wether or not a virus is a hoax, (even if its not
specifically listed there as a hoax) along with the proper procedure
to follow if you feel a warning is real. One big clue as to wether
a warning is real or not is that any real warnings will be digitally
(PGP) signed by the sender.
-Jon-
.--- stei0302@cs.fredonia.edu ----------------------------------------.
| Jon Steiger * AOPA, DoD, EAA, MP Race Team, NMA, SPA, USUA * RP-SEL |
| '96 Dodge Dakota v8 SLT CC (14.58@93.55), '96 Kolb FireFly 447 |
`--------------------------- http://www.cs.fredonia.edu/~stei0302/ ---'
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