Serious New Virus

[MoonRiver]

I got this email today from a trusted friend - if it's NOT real then no harm done, but if it is then please take note.

Hi All,
I checked with Norton Anti-Virus, and they are gearing up for this
virus!

I checked snipes.com, and it is for real!!
Get this E-mail message sent around to your contacts ASAP .

PLEASE FORWARD THIS WARNING AMONG FRIENDS, FAMILY AND CONTACTS!

You should be alert during the next few days. Do not open any
message with an attachment entitled "You have received a POSTCARD from a family member," regardless of who sent it to you. It is a virus which opens A POSTCARD IMAGE, which 'burns' the whole hard disc C of your computer. This virus will be received from someone who has your e-mail address in his/her contact list. This is the reason why you need to send this e-mail to all your contacts. It is better to receive this message 25 times than to receive the virus and open it.

If you receive a mail called" POSTCARD," even though sent to you by a friend, do not open it! Shut down your computer immediately.

This is the worst virus announced by CNN. It has been classified by Microsoft as the most destructive virus ever. This virus was discovered by McAfeeyesterday, and there is no repair yet for this kind of virus.

This virus simply destroys the Zero Sector of the Hard Disc, where the vital information is kept.

COPY THIS E-MAIL, AND SEND IT TO YOUR FRIENDS. REMEMBER: IF YOU SEND IT TO THEM, YOU WILL BENEFIT ALL OF US.

[bobdezon]

Its a chain email scam. Pointless

[MoonRiver]

bobdezon said:

Its a chain email scam. Pointless

I wasn't sure Bob, if you're sure shall I delete this post?

[bobdezon]

No its fine, the clue is send this to as many people as you can. Im suprised it never told the tale of some poor crippled child whos parents recieve money from every email sent for treatment of that child.

[MoonRiver]

bobdezon said:

No its fine, the clue is send this to as many people as you can. Im suprised it never told the tale of some poor crippled child whos parents recieve money from every email sent for treatment of that child.

What does that tell you? I dont understand what would anyone get out of sending it to lots of people. Sorry to be a bit thick, but you obviously are more computer savvy than me.

[tomolac]

for the same reason people would create a fake woo idea, just to see how far it would go, see if they could get it in the news, just for the hell of it
it sounds like spam to me too, I'd say just ignore it, its just someone having a bit of fun.

[bobdezon]

here is a classic example from schmumph's facebook page:

If you don't forward this ...you don't have a heart!


Dear All,

Alexandra came out of a fire alive, but now has to fight for her life and a normal future. She is 14 months old and she has burnt skin all over her body, damage facial bones (as a result of very high temperature). She does not have half of her face. She is in hospital in Krakow - Poland and one of the best specialist is looking after her. However she still has to go through many surgeries and then long rehab. Unfortunately her parents do not have any more money.

Therefore we are asking for your help. For each forwarded email her parents will get 3 cents. Please help them and forward that email to as many people as you can!

They are quite easy to spot with a bit of practise.

[australbeing]

It's worth checking out www.snopes.com/ if you're not sure whether something is true or a hoax.

www.snopes.com/computer/virus/postcard.asp explains that there IS a real virus and also a hoax email. Makes interesting reading.

[bobdezon]

There is always a real virus knocking about, virus writers are quite busy these days. A lie is best hidden between two truth's.

[MoonRiver]

australbeing said:

It's worth checking out www.snopes.com/ if you're not sure whether something is true or a hoax.

www.snopes.com/computer/virus/postcard.asp explains that there IS a real virus and also a hoax email. Makes interesting reading.

I checked out the snope site australbeing - and it appears that the one I mentioned IS a real threat.

Thanks for all the advice guys.

[bobdezon]

You know the company behind snopes are also the ones who orchestrate some of these hoaxes in the first place right? Makes you think. ;D

xkcd.com/250/

[australbeing]

For a moment I thought you were serious! But then I looked up 'xkcd' on Snopes and there was no entry so I felt better! ;D Wouldn't it be cool if some viruses were named after 'psychics' and 'mediums'? The Derek Acorah virus - it's a few bytes short of a bit.

[MoonRiver]

Oh piffle!! I wish I hadn't bothered....... this is just too much for me to comprehend!!

[bujin]

The Boy who Cried Wolf.

So many hoax emails going around these days that when a genuine one comes along, no-one believes it!

As for MoonRiver's question of what people would get out of sending them out, it's a primitive form of a "denial of service" attack. Consider those emails which ask you to forward it on to 10 people, lest your ears fall off (or something). The first person sends it to ten people. Those ten people send it on to another ten people each. The next hundred people send it on to another ten. Those thousand people send on another ten. And so on. It doesn't take too many generations of emails until you are in the millions of emails floating around the internet. Each one of those emails takes up a certain amount of network bandwidth in passing...

Not only that, but email addresses can be harvested from emails that have been forwarded on - think about it, most times when you forward on the email, you just click the "forward" button, and it copies not only the email, but the details of the person who sent it to you. So on the next generation, the email will contain the email address of both you and the person who sent it to you. The generation after that will contain your email address, the address of the person who sent it to you and the people you sent it on to. Within a few generations, the mail contains hundreds, if not thousands of email addresses which are harvested by spammers who then send you tons of junk mail.

[julia]

I NEVER open e-mails that strike me as being in the least bit dodgy.