On Thu, Dec 28, 2000 at 10:00:26AM -0500, Paul Tegler wrote:
>
> 8+years of writing HTML code, 5 in Java, 6 in ActiveX... I've never
> seen any mail server that could transport a virus via these coding
> methods. The email lists can not/ do not transmit/spread viruses.
> You can only get one from an executable or higher level coding
> (gateway) that allows direct file, disk, hardware access.
>
> If you got a virus from an email list... you opened an
> attachment. It did not come from HTML code.
That is no longer true. I administer a state-agency network as part of my
job. For the last several months, we have been intercepting the KAK virus
at the mail server, typically a couple of times a week. KAK is VBScript
which is embedded in HTML. MS Outlook/Outlook Express would execute the
code when the message was in the preview window - no action on the part
of the user was needed. Microsoft has issued a patch that overcomes that
vulnerability, but my guess is that most home users do not know about and
have not applied the patch. The fortunate thing is that the payload is just
to display an anti-Microsoft message - no damage to data - and to attach
itself to all messages subsequently sent by the infected user. I've seen this
virus spread on other e-mail lists. All that's needed is to allow HTML
messages.
We can thank the List's text-only policies for preventing the spread of this
one. (Thanks, Mark!)
--
Dan Julien
Austin, Texas
'70 TR6 CC50337L
dgjulien@swbell.net
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