LZ: Re: INTERNET VIRUS ALERT (FWD)


[Prev][Next][Index][Thread]

LZ: Re: INTERNET VIRUS ALERT (FWD)



----------
> From: Craig J Hawkins <cjhawkin@mtu.edu>
> To: hu101-culture-l@mtu.edu
> Cc: davec@lsi.sel.sony.com; w@ellerbruch.nmu.edu;
list-zshell@lists.ticalc.org
> Subject: LZ: INTERNET VIRUS ALERT (FWD)
> Date: Thursday, October 10, 1996 1:43 PM
> 
> READ CAREFULLY AND FORWARD TO EVERYONE!!!!!!!!
> 
> The message sent to me and others read:
> 
> There is a computer virus that is being sent across the Internet. If you 
> receive an email message with the subject line "Good  Times", DO NOT 
> read the message, DELETE it immediately.  Please read the messages 
> below.
> 
>  Some miscreant is sending  email under the title "Good Times" 
> nationwide,
> if you get anything like this, DON'T DOWN LOAD THE FILE! It has a virus
> that rewrites your hard drive, obliterating anything on it.
> 
> Please be careful and forward this mail to anyone you care about.
> 
> The FCC released a warning last Wednesday concerning a matter of major 
> importance to any regular user of the Internet. Apparently a new 
> computer
> virus has been engineered by a user of AMERICA ON LINE that is 
> unparalleled
> in its destructive capability. Other more well-known viruses such as 
> "Stoned", "Airwolf" and "Michaelangelo" pale in  comparison to the 
> prospects of this newest creation by a warped mentality. What makes this 
> virus so terrifying, said the FCC, is the fact that no program needs to 
> be exchanged for a new computer to be infected. It can be spread through 
> the existing email systems of the Internet.
> 
> Once a Computer is infected, one of several things can  happen. If the 
> computer contains a hard drive, that  will most likely be destroyed. If 
> the
> program is not stopped, the computer's processor will be placed in an 
> nth-complexity infinite binary loop -which can severely damage the 
> processor if left running that way too long.
> 
> Unfortunately, most novice computer users will not realize what is 
> happening until it is far too late. Luckily, there is one sure means of 
> detecting what is now known as the "Good Times" virus. It always travels 
> to new computers the same way in a text email message with the subject 
> line reading "Good Times". Avoiding infection is easy once the file has 
> been received simply by NOT READING IT! The act of loading the file into 
> the mail server's ASCII buffer causes the "Good Times" mainline program 
> to initialize and execute.
> 
> The program is highly intelligent- it will send copies of itself to 
> everyone whose email address is contained in a receive-mail file or a 
> sent-mail file, if it can find one. It will then proceed to trash the 
> computer it is running on.
> 
> The bottom line is:  - if you receive a file with the subject line "Good 
> Times", delete it  immediately! Do not read it"  Rest assured that who's 
> ever
> name was on the  "From" line was surely struck by the virus. Warn your 
> friends and  local system users of this newest threat to the Internet! 
> It could save them a lot of time and money.
> 
> Could you pass this along to your global mailing list as well?
> 
> DO NOT DOWNLOAD ANY FILE NAMED PKZIP300 REGARDLESS OF THE EXTENSION
> 
> We work closely with the military and received this message from a very
> reliable source in Washington DC this morning.
> 
> A NEW Trojan Horse Virus has emerged on the internet with the name
> PKZIP300.ZIP, so named as to give the impression that this file is a new
> version of the PKZIP software used to "ZIP" (compress) files.
> 
> DO NOT DOWNLOAD this file under any circumstances!!! If you install or
> expand this file, the virus WILL wipe your hard disk clean and affect
> modems at 14.4 and higher. This is an extremely destructive virus and 
> there is NOT  yet a way of cleaning up this one.
> 
> REPEAT: DO NOT DOWNLOAD ANY FILE NAMED PKZIP300 REGARDLESS OF THE  
> EXTENSION.
> 
> Ciao
> 
> Marco Leccese


The good times virus was a prank, it is impossible to get a virus by
reading an e-mail.


References: