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Virus Hoaxes (was Re: Virus Warning)

To: jonmac <jonmac@ndirect.co.uk>
Subject: Virus Hoaxes (was Re: Virus Warning)
From: Scott Fisher <sefisher@cisco.com>
Date: Wed, 15 Dec 1999 13:42:40 -0800
Known, documented hoax.  Specifically, the "It Takes Guts to Say Jesus"
hoax is called out here:

http://ciac.llnl.gov/ciac/CIACHoaxes.html#jesus

That site is the best place I know to check out virus-warning hoaxes
(and real viruses as well) -- bookmark it for future reference:

http://ciac.llnl.gov

That stands for the Computer Incident Advisory Center of Lawrence
Livermore National Labs, the U.S. Department of Energy's computer
security site.  While there may well be hoaxes that are *not* listed on
this site, every virus-warning hoax I've received in the past three or
four years has been documented, debunked, and described on this site.  

In fact, I'll go on to say that virtually *any* message you get saying
"please send this out to everyone you know" is almost without exception
a hoax.  If you receive such a message, check it out before sending it
on.  

There are genuine viruses, and the CIAC page lists them as well (so do
the virus-protection company sites, of course).  But I heartily
recommend that anyone who receives a message titled "Virus Warning"
first check it out, either at the CIAC site I listed, or at another of
the many hoax-debunking sites on the Web.

This public service message brought to you by...

--Scott Fisher
  Sunnyvale, California

jonmac wrote:
> 
> This maybe a hoax, on the other hand ... pass it along as
> you may feel inclined
> It was forwarded to me by a Senior Litigator in the Canadian
> Revenue Service
> 
> Jonmac
> 
> >PASS THIS ON TO ANYONE YOU HAVE AN E-MAIL ADDRESS FOR.
> 
> > If you receive an e-mail titled "IT TAKES GUTS TO SAY
> JESUS"
> > DO NOT OPEN IT..... It will erase everything on your hard
> drive.
> 
> >This information was announced yesterday morning form IBM;
> AOL states
> >that this is a very dangerous virus, much worse than
> "Melissa," and that
> >there is NO remedy for it at this time. Some very sick
> individual has
> >succeeded in using the reformat function from Norton
> Utilities causing
> >it to completely erase all documents on the hard drive. It
> has been
> >designed to work with Netscape Navigator and Microsoft
> Internet
> >Explorer. It destroys Macintosh and IBM compatible
> computers. This is a
> >new, very malicious virus and not many people know about
> it. Pass this
> >warning along to EVERYONE in your address book and please
> share it with
> >all your online friends ASAP so that this threat may be
> stopped. Please
> >practice cautionary measures and tell anyone that may have
> access to
> >your computer.

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