Paul Bissex on Thu, 15 May 1997 19:40:12 +0200 (MET DST) |
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Re:<nettime> VIRUS ALERT (fwd) |
I can never tell if people post panicky virus warnings to Nettime as some sort of wry meta-commentary, but... for those who do this sort of thing in earnest I highly recommend checking the CIAC site at <http://ciac.llnl.gov/cgi-bin/index/bulletins> before forwarding such messages. >From <http://ciac.llnl.gov/ciac/bulletins/h-47a.shtml>: >======== > >The original AOL4FREE Macintosh program was developed to fraudulently >create free >AOL accounts. The creator of that program has pleaded guilty to defrauding >America Online for distributing that program. Anyone else attempting to use >that program to defraud AOL could also be prosecuted. > >The AOL4FREE Virus Warning message has been circulating about the Internet >and warns of an AOL4FREE virus infected e-mail message that infects and >destroys a system when the message is read, but that warning is a hoax >and not about this Trojan horse. > >1. The AOL4FREE.COM program is a Trojan Horse, not a virus. It does not > spread on its own. >2. A Trojan Horse must be run to do any damage. >3. Reading an e-mail message with the Trojan Horse program as an attachment > will not run the Trojan Horse and will not do any damage. Note that > opening an attached program from within an e-mail reader runs that > attached program, which may make it appear that reading the attachment > caused the damage. Users should keep in mind that any file with a .COM or > .EXE extension is a program, not a document and that double clicking or > opening that program will run it. Macintosh users have the additional > problem that Macintosh programs do not have readable extensions, and so > are more difficult to detect. Extra care should be taken to insure > that you do not unintentionally execute an attached program. > >CIAC still affirms that reading an e-mail message, even one with an attached >program, can not do damage to a system. The attachment must be both downloaded >onto the system and run to do any damage. There's a search form at <http://ciac.llnl.gov/cgi-bin/index/bulletins>. Paul Bissex, Technology Writer * <http://www.well.com/~pb/tech/> Office: 413.585.9442 * 160 Main St. Suite 23 Northampton MA 01060 USA PGP key: <http://www.well.com/user/pb/pgpkey.asc> PGP fingerprint: DC C3 15 26 7C 79 39 B9 8C 6A BE 12 9C 76 D2 33 --- # distributed via nettime-l : no commercial use without permission # <nettime> is a closed moderated mailinglist for net criticism, # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets # more info: majordomo@icf.de and "info nettime" in the msg body # URL: http://www.desk.nl/~nettime/ contact: nettime-owner@icf.de