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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"We are the New Breed ... We are the Future"
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