Have you ever gotten an email message
like this?
BIGGGG TROUBLE !!!! DO NOT OPEN "WTC Survivor"
It is a virus that will erase your whole "C"
drive. It will come to you in the form of an E-Mail
from a familiar person. I repeat a friend sent it to
me, but called and warned me before I opened it. He
was not so lucky and now he can't even start his computer!
Forward this to everyone in your address book. I would
rather receive this 25 times than not at all. If you
receive an email called "WTC Survivor" do
not open it. Delete it right away! This virus removes
all dynamic link libraries (.dll files) from your computer.
Again,,, I urge all of you to make sure your virius
scanners are up to date daily!!!!!! FG
Sounds very bad, doesn't it? My, what a horrible virus.
It, and others like it, will eat your hard drive, destroy
your email, infect every other machine on your network
and listed in your address book, and even perhaps give
you cookies and make your car break down!
This email and others like it are simply hoaxes? How
do I know they are a hoax and not a real warning? Here's
how it works. A virus propagates (reproduces) by automatically
sending itself to all of the addresses in your address
book. This is a fairly complex piece of code, requiring
a little knowledge on the part of the person who created
the virus.
Well, instead of writing code to propagate something,
why not ask some gullible people to do it for you? That's
what these hoaxes are all about - the "virus"
is the email message and the delivery system is human
being.
Why will people do this? Sometimes it's just for a
laugh, and sometimes it's for more insidious reasons.
Someone could send out a message which claimed that
any message from AOL contained a virus, for example,
in an effort to make AOL look bad.
Here is one of the first hoaxes known to have been
sent out across the internet. It went out in 1988.
SUBJ: Really Nasty Virus
AREA: GENERAL (1)
I've just discovered probably the world's worst computer
virus yet. I had just finished a late night session
of BBS'ing and file treading when I exited Telix 3 and
attempted to run pkxarc to unarc the software I had
downloaded. Next thing I knew my hard disk was seeking
all over and it was apparently writing random sectors.
Thank god for strong coffee and a recent backup. Everything
was back to normal, so I called the BBS again and downloaded
a file. When I went to use ddir to list the directory,
my hard disk was getting trashed again. I tried Procomm
Plus TD and also PC Talk 3. Same results every time.
Something was up so I hooked up to my test equipment
and different modems (I do research and development
for a local computer telecommunications company and
have an in-house lab at my disposal). After another
hour of corrupted hard drives I found what I think is
the world's worst computer virus yet. The virus distributes
itself on the modem sub-carrier present in all 2400
baud and up modems. The sub-carrier is used for ROM
and register debugging purposes only, and otherwise
serves no othr (sp) purpose. The virus sets a bit pattern
in one of the internal modem registers, but it seemed
to screw up the other registers on my USR. A modem that
has been "infected" with this virus will then
transmit the virus to other modems that use a subcarrier
(I suppose those who use 300 and 1200 baud modems should
be immune). The virus then attaches itself to all binary
incoming data and infects the host computer's hard disk.
The only way to get rid of this virus is to completely
reset all the modem registers by hand, but I haven't
found a way to vaccinate a modem against the virus,
but there is the possibility of building a subcarrier
filter. I am calling on a 1200 baud modem to enter this
message, and have advised the sysops of the two other
boards (names withheld). I don't know how this virus
originated, but I'm sure it is the work of someone in
the computer telecommunications field such as myself.
Probably the best thing to do now is to stick to 1200
baud until we figure this thing out. Mike RoChenle
So what should you do if you receive a warning about
some horrible virus? Generally, if these demand to be
sent to everyone you know, it's a hoax. If you are unsure,
then check out the following site:
Symantic Antivirus Research Center - http://www.symantec.com
Go to the search page and enter a few words from the
message claiming to warn you about a horrible virus.
Behold, you will now read about the hoax. In fact, here's
the datasheet on the virus mentioned at the start of
this article:
http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/wtc.survivor.hoax.html
In any event, hoax or not, it's a good idea to just
file the email or delete it. Don't send it on to all
of your friends. Don't do anything dramatic. These things
only gain power when people give them power.
In other words, maintain your reason and don't give
in to an emotional response which simply floods email
inboxes with junk.
About the
Authors:
Richard Lowe Jr. is the webmaster of Internet Tips And
Secrets. This website includes over 1,000 free articles
to improve your internet profits, enjoyment and knowledge.
Web Site Address: http://www.internet-tips.net
Claudia Arevalo-Lowe is the webmistress of Internet
Tips And Secrets and Surviving Asthma.
Visit her site at http://survivingasthma.com
Back to the Data Recovery Articles Index
Data Recovery Services Home
|
"If
you receive an email called "WTC Survivor"
do not open it. Delete it right away!"
