Dear all,
These warnings about E-mail propagating virii start to get anoying to say
the least.
Before sprading such rumors, it would be wise to check the validity of the
alert.
There are enough credible www site that can provide such informations. Two
of them are:
http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/jesus-hoax.html
http://ciac.llnl.gov/ciac/CIACHoaxes.html
The US department of energy (ciac, see above) says:
There are several methods to identify virus hoaxes, but first consider what
makes a successful hoax on the Internet. There are two known factors that
make a successful virus hoax, they are: (1)
technical sounding language, and (2) credibility by association. If the
warning uses the proper technical jargon, most individuals, including
technologically savy individuals, tend to believe the
warning is real.
Well, to relax a little, here is a good one also kindly provided by the ciac:
Warning: There's a new virus on the loose that's worse than
anything I've seen before! It gets in through the power line,
riding on the powerline 60 Hz subcarrier. It works by changing the
serial port pinouts, and by reversing the direction one's disks
spin. Over 300,000 systems have been hit by it here in Murphy,
West Dakota alone! And that's just in the last 12 minutes.
It attacks DOS, Unix, TOPS-20, Apple-II, VMS, MVS, Multics, Mac,
RSX-11, ITS, TRS-80, and VHS systems.
To prevent the spresd of the worm:
1) Don't use the powerline.
2) Don't use batteries either, since there are rumors that this
virus has invaded most major battery plants and is infecting the
positive poles of the batteries. (You might try hooking up just
the negative pole.)
3) Don't upload or download files.
4) Don't store files on floppy disks or hard disks.
5) Don't read messages. Not even this one!
6) Don't use serial ports, modems, or phone lines.
7) Don't use keyboards, screens, or printers.
8) Don't use switches, CPUs, memories, microprocessors, or
mainframes.
9) Don't use electric lights, electric or gas heat or
airconditioning, running water, writing, fire, clothing or the
wheel.
I'm sure if we are all careful to follow these 9 easy steps, this
virus can be eradicated, and the precious electronic fluids of
our computers can be kept pure.
here is the description of the "Guts to Say Jesus Hoax" by symantec
"Guts to Say Jesus" Hoax is not a virus and is a hoax. It is a sham, meant
only to panic new or inexperienced computer users.
Please ignore any messages regarding this supposed "virus" and do not pass
on any messages regarding it. Passing on messages about this hoax on serves
only to further propagate it.
Write-up by: Motoaki Yamamura
January 14, 1999
Cheers
Pierre
_________________________________________________________________
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Address:
Pierre Dezes
Institut de Mineralogie et Petrographie
Universite de Lausanne
BFSH2
1015 Lausanne
SWITZERLAND
phone:
prof: ++4121/692.43.47 Fax:++4121/692.43.05
priv: ++4121/691.33.18
E-Mail:
[log in to unmask]
WWW:
Http://130.223.240.111
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