People of the world, please be aware of the following virus warning:
There are new types of virus around today that have been around for years already. It's called a meme or more accurately, a repeated meme.
It's a virus that travels by computer - from one computer to another, passed on each time by a panic-stricken user just trying to do a good thing by passing a warning email they've received onto their friends and family.
The problem is that these emails are almost always a hoax and the viruses are not real.
So, what's all this about a meme then?
A meme is an idea. It 'infects' the user when they read the email and they then pass the meme onto their friends and family thereby 'infecting' them. The virus that doesn't exist never infects the computer but the idea that there may be a virus simply causes paranoia & unnecessary internet traffic.
So what's sparked off my rant today?
I received the following email:
BIG virus coming
I checked with Norton Anti-Virus, and they are gearing up for this virus!
I checked snopes.com, this morning, and it is for real!!
Get this E-mail message sent around to your contacts ASAP.
PLEASE FORWARD THIS WARNING AMONG FRIENDS, FAMILY AND CONTACTS!
You should be alert during the next several weeks. Do not open any message with an attachment entitled 'POSTCARD,' regardless of who sent it to you.
It is a virus which opens A POSTCARD IMAGE, which 'burns' the whole hard disc (C drive) of your computer. This virus will be received from someone who has your e-mail address in his/her contact list. This is the reason why you need to send this e-mail to all your contacts. It is better to receive this message 25 times than to receive the virus and open it.
If you receive a mail called' POSTCARD,' even though sent to you by a friend, do not open it.! This includes all cards, too. Shut down your computer immediately.
This is the worst virus announced by CNN. It has been classified by Microsoft as the most destructive virus ever.
This virus was discovered by McAfee yesterday, and there is no repair yet for this kind of virus. This virus simply destroys the Zero Sector of the Hard Disc, where your vital information is kept.
COPY THIS E-MAIL, AND SEND IT TO YOUR FRIENDS.
REMEMBER: IF YOU SEND IT TO THEM, YOU WILL BENEFIT ALL OF US.
http://www.snopes.com/computer/virus
Confusion is further caused by the fact that Snopes refer to a virus that is real and people tend to mistake this particular warning for a warning about the
real virus.
My reply?
Take a look at the following web page:
http://www.hoax-slayer.com/postcard-virus-hoax.shtml
Does it look familiar?
Email virus warnings are almost always a hoax, even when they claim to not be. This one in particular is quite nasty because it references a supposed 'Postcard' virus that doesn't exist. However, there is a real virus that poses as a postcard but it doesn't come through email. You'd need to visit a website and download the postcard before you could get it.
This is what causes confusion: making hoax virus warnings that suggest they are real when they are not.
My suggestions about any type of virus warning is to check out its validity on the internet. Hoax Slayer is a very reliable site for this but the main anti-virus companies (Symantec/Norton, McAfee, PANDA, AVG, etc.) also keep records on their sites about hoax emails.
The easiest way to check is by searching. I fired up Google and searched for "postcard virus burn drive" and got the link I've quoted at the top of the page. Amongst the search results were the links:
Hoax Slayer: http://www.hoax-slayer.com/postcard-virus-hoax.shtml
Symantec/Norton: http://www.symantec.com/security_response/writeup.jsp?docid=2006-022115-0852-99&tabid=2
This particular virus warning seems quite similar to the Olympic Torch hoax from Summer 2006.
Truth or Fiction: http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/i/invitation.htm
People, let's do each other a favour and investigate the virus warnings we receive. Let's not just blindly click the forward button in our email programs. Let's use our intelligence to beat the hoaxes!
