Ok. Computer viruses are real. They do exist. There are people (and I use that term loosely) out there with nothing better to do with their time and talents than to write these things which are nuisances at best and damaging/lethal to your programs and data at worst.
How can we keep from getting viruses?
When you receive a "Virus Warning" please check it at http://hoaxbusters.ciac.org/ - the Computer Incident Advisory Council's page for Internet Virus Hoaxes.
In general, reading mail will not infect your computer with any virus. Any attachments you receive should be scanned with a recent copy of anti-virus software before being opened/run.
Date sent: Thu, 11 Jan 2001
18:04:10 +0100
From:
Intercessors Network <Intercessors.Network@Telia.com>
Subject: The virus
warning letter - a disease in it self
***
The virus warning letter - a disease in it self
Avoid circulating virus hoaxes
Watch out for the many HOAX messages and warnings being sent around the Christian community, including ones called "It takes guts to say ‘Jesus’","Perrin", and "Wobbler".
Just in case you are not sure how to check for a hoax message, may I
recommend just three sources we have found reliable, which keep lists of
all hoaxes and which seem to be the most up to date:
http://www.sophos.co.uk/virusinfo/hoaxes
http://vmyths.com
http://www.snopes2.com
Allow this message to be forwarded to the person/s who sent a hoax letter, in order to inform and alert them that they have been hoaxed.
Here are some examples of where you can find specific information to confirm for yourself about the "It takes guts to say ‘Jesus’" hoax.
http://www.vmyths.com/hoax.cfm?id=91&page=3
http://www.sophos.co.uk/virusinfo/hoaxes/ittakesguts.html
http://vil.mcafee.com/dispVirus.asp?virus_k=98307
Here are some other sites (not quite as good or up to date, but useful)
http://vil.mcafee.com/hoax.asp
http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/hoax.html
http://www.nonprofit.net/hoax/default.htm
http://www.f-secure.com/
Also, as well as hoaxes, and real viruses, watch out for the scams and false info hoaxes e.g. Help a Dying Child E-Mail / Slow Dance (poem)
Finally, some good advice from an antivirus vendor: Many virus hoaxes falsely claim to describe an extremely dangerous virus They use pseudo-technical language to make impressive-sounding (but impossible) claims. They falsely claim that the report was issued or confirmed by a well-known company. They ask you to forward it to all your friends and colleagues - which is the major harassment this type of chain letters cause. You are urged not to pass on warnings of the hoax category, as the continued re-forwarding simply wastes the receiver’s time and e-mail bandwidth.
It is possible that you may receive a hoax via e-mail with a file attached. Obviously, such file attachments should be treated with caution as they may be virus infected. Sophos recommends deleting virus hoax e-mails, whether they contain file attachments or not. Sophos suggests a policy to help prevent hoaxes from spreading in your company.
Details of Hoax message called "It takes guts to say ‘Jesus’" virus:
A typical alert which devolved from the original Good Times hoax virus
alert. This one claims your computer will die if you read an e-mail with
"It takes guts to say "Jesus’" in the subject line. Naturally, the alert
claims no anti-virus software can protect you from this e-mail. A hoaxster
probably launched this alert to curtail a popular chain letter with the
same subject line Some people think an atheist did it out of spite -- but
Vmyths.com believes the culprit is more probably a lax Christian who grew
tired of receiving copies of the chain letter.
This text was updated at the Network HQ - original author unknown.
--------------
The following is a joke - please read it and understand
how exaggerated some of these things can sound!
The "Badtimes" Virus
If you receive an e-mail with a subject line of "Badtimes," delete it immediately WITHOUT reading it. This is the most dangerous E-mail virus yet.
It demagnetizes the strips on all your credit cards, reprograms your ATM access code, screws up the tracking on your VCR, and uses subspace field harmonics to scratch any CDs you try to play. It will completely re-write your hard drive, (and your soft drive too) Not only that, it will scramble any disks that are even close to your computer.
It will recalibrate your refrigerator's coolness setting, so all your ice cream melts and your milk curdles.
It will give your ex-boy/girlfriend your new phone number.
This virus will mix antifreeze into your fish tank. It will drink all your soda and leave dirty socks on the coffee table when you are expecting company.
It will hide your car keys when you are late for work and interfere with your car radio, so that you hear only static or religious sermons while stuck in traffic.
When executed, "Badtimes" will also give you nightmares about circus midgets. It will replace your shampoo with Nair and your Nair with Rogaine. It will give you jock itch and make you vulnerable to athlete's foot.
"Badtimes" will give you Dutch Elm disease and brown patch. If the "Badtimes" mail message is opened in a UNIX environment, it will raise and leave up your toilet. It will leave your hairdryer plugged in dangerously close to a full bathtub.
It will not only remove the forbidden tags from your mattresses and pillows, but it will also refill your skim milk with whole milk.
It is insidious and subtle. It is dangerous and terrifying to behold. It is also a rather interesting shade of mauve.
These are just a few of the signs.
Be afraid. Be very, very afraid.
On 2 Oct 97 at 8:50, temple2@gulfsurf.infi.net
<temple2@gulfsurf.infi.net> forwarded:
Patrick Douglas Crispen wrote:
Thank you for your recent letter concerning e-mail-borne
viruses.
Unfortunately, most of the virus warnings floating around
the Net right now are hoaxes. There are, however, two rules that
you need to remember to be able to sort out the true virus warnings from
the hoaxes, and to protect yourself from becoming infected with a virus
or a trojan horse:
1. Regular, plain-text e-mail letters -- the plain old vanilla e-mail letters (like this one) that you receive every day -- can *NOT* contain viruses or trojan horses. Period. It does not matter what you may have heard from your friends, co-workers, newspaper, government, or religious leaders. Plain e-mail letters can not contain viruses or trojan horses. It does not matter WHAT the subject line of the letter is -- "Good Times," "Penpal Greetings," "Deeyenda," "Irina," "AOL4FREE," "I AM A REALLY MEAN VIRUS AND I AM GOING TO EAT YOUR HARD DRIVE" -- plain text e-mail letters simply can not contain viruses or trojan horses. If anyone tells you otherwise, they are either lying or are badly misinformed.
2. Files that are attached to e-mail letters -- like Lotus or Excel spreadsheet files and *especially* Microsoft Word files -- can, and probably do, contain viruses and trojan horses. How can you protect yourself? VIRUS CHECK EVERY SINGLE ATTACHMENT THAT YOU RECEIVE THROUGH E-MAIL (AND EVERY SINGLE FILE THAT YOU DOWNLOAD FROM THE INTERNET). If your boss, best friend, worst enemy, family pet, significant other, insignificant other, teacher, tribal member, or political leader sends you a file attached to an e-mail document, VIRUS CHECK THAT FILE. It does not matter what the subject line of the e-mail letter to which thatfile is attached is called. VIRUS CHECK THAT FILE!
.~~~. ))
(\__/) .'
) )) Patrick
Douglas Crispen
/o o \/ .~
Network Solutions Inc. / The InterNIC
{o_, \ {
Business E-mail: crispen@internic.net
/ , , ) \
Personal E-mail: crispen@brigadoon.com `~
'-' \ } ))
http://www.brigadoon.com/~crispen/
_( ( )_.'
'---..{____}
Warning: squirrels.
-----------------------------
Something to really be concerned about:
VIRUS WARNING - This one's for real. Please send it to everyone you know. This one is lethal to your total system. The attack is massive and unrelenting. There is only one protection available. ALERT. This is a notice to inform you of a virus properly named "THE CURSE". It is without question the most devastating catastrophe known to humanity.
Infection status: Regardless of your safety devices and careful avoidance procedures, you are already infected. The CURSE was downloaded by Adam and Eve and we all are born into it.
Damage: Every component of your life is affected. We have been brought under the wrath of God (Eph. 2:3); made liable to all miseries in this life, to death itself, and even to the pains of hell forever. (Rom. 6:23; Matt. 25:41).
Remedy: The only remedy is complete forensic reconfiguration of all component parts. This is called Justification. (Eph. 1:7; 2 Cor 5:21). This is followed by a radical lifetime software purge called Sanctification.(2 Thess. 3:13; Eph. 4:24). The only means of rescue from the power and results of THE CURSE is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. (Acts 4:12).
Cost: You cannot purchase this remedy. It is not so simple. The cost is the eternal wrath of God.
Access: You may acquire justification free of charge. The price was already paid on the cross of Christ. But you must humble yourself in repentance and call on the name of the Lord for forgiveness. Many perish maintaining their "dignity" i.e. pride. "Being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God." (Rom. 5:1,2).
For more information and validation, consult the only User's Manual - The Holy Bible.
WARNING - THIS IS NOT A HOAX. Please do not disregard this warning. Do not delay. The CURSE impairs logical functions, input and output, processing and communication, linkup with other systems, and corrupts all disks. The final result will be a total crash. The time of the crash cannot be ascertained, but the fate is worse than mere termination.
Jesus Christ is the Lord of all things, every system, every user...and is your only hope. The good news is that He is available by 24 hour access. Never a busy signal. Answers are always correct and timely. No hardware necessary. Simply call out to Him for forgiveness and He will give you His righteousness. Understanding your plight, you have absolutely no other options: The buttons are not OK or CANCEL. They are REPENT or PERISH. Simply believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved.
Some things don't qualify as 'hoaxes' or chain letters - they have been around for so long, and/or become so widespread, that they are considered "Urban Legends" - you can check some out at http://urbanlegends.about.com/science/urbanlegends/
Killer ATMs: Urban Legends and the Net
by Charles ColsonDid you know that the envelopes at ATM machines can kill you? Or that sitting down in a movie theater can cost you your life? Preposterous, you say? Not to millions of people on the Internet-a place where even the most absurd urban legend can gain an audience. For the past few months, millions of Internet subscribers have received an ominous e-mail describing a Toronto woman who died after making a deposit at her bank's ATM machine. According to the e-mail message, police found cyanide in her body and traced the poison to the glue in the envelope. Someone had been putting cyanide-laced envelopes in machines across the city, the e-mail message explained, and banks were powerless to stop it. The e-mail concluded by advising people to spit at bank envelopes instead of licking them. The story was a hoax, of course. And so was another e-mail message describing a Dallas woman who sat on an HIV-infected needle left in a movie theater seat. Similar occurrences are being reported across the country, the message claimed, citing the Centers for Disease Control. Both hoaxes sounded plausible enough to prompt millions of concerned Americans to forward the messages to friends and relatives all across the world. Thanks to e-mail,rumors, even absurd ones like these, now spread almost instantaneously. How could so many people be so gullible? David Emery, an expert in so-called "urban legends," says that stories are "an expression of how many people feel: generally mistrustful; wary of their fellow human beings, particularly strangers." Many of these stories suggest that we are in dire danger when undertaking "the most ordinary of daily activities," such as going to the bank or to a movie. Yet, Emery's explanation leaves out the role played by the Internet itself in the spread of urban legends today: the creation of ever-greater isolation. The explosion of the World Wide Web and so-called e-commerce has created a world where you can do almost everything without leaving your home. You can buy groceries or shop for a car without stepping outside your door. You can even buy a home and apply for a mortgage on-line. In fact, just about the only thing you cannot do on-line is move. In a culture where interaction with others is increasingly optional, is it any surprise that mistrust and suspicion are also increasing? How can we trust our neighbors if we don't even known them? No wonder so many people fall for bogus e-mail warnings that warn of hidden dangers lurking in the most innocent settings. The Bible makes it clear that God intended us to live our lives in community, surrounded by people with whom we have real, not virtual, relationships. We all need to make sure we and our kids are not spending our whole lives on-line. We need to take regular breaks from the computer, go outside, and talk with our neighbors. Christians need to take a stand against a fragmenting society and not be carried along unthinkingly by social trends. It's the only way to protect ourselves-not from killer envelopes but from the mistrust and suspicion that destroys a community.
Copyright c 1999 Prison Fellowship Ministries
Page author: Teri Lee Earl