Please read: Big Virus coming
http://www.snopes.com/computer/virus/postcard.asp
Hi All, I checked with Norton Anti-Virus, and they are gearing up for this virus!
I checked Snopes (URL above:), 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 'POSTCARD,' 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-mailaddress 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 McAfee yesterday, 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.
Snopes lists all the names it could come in.
We've all received email messages which look like this one, and we've all wondered whether it's the Truth, or whether it's just another Email Hoax.
Chances are;
- You can't go far wrong assuming it's another EMAIL Hoax;
- The situation described is "grounded in reality" in that it describes, but exaggerates, a 'real threat';
- You can protect yourself by installing, and maintaining, suitable anti-virus software.
- Proliferating the threat by forwarding the email doesn't serve to protect people from being infected by the virus; instead, it serves the same purpose as the virus (to swamp the in-box of recipients with groundless, fearful threats) without ever actually imposing the virus against which it purports to warn you.
- They encourage the recipient(who has typically not really backtracked the authoritative references which are cited in the email) to assume the sender knows as much as he appears to confirm;
- They waste your time trying to confirm the validity of the claims;
- They serve only to make you dubious about all of your EMAIL.
It is true that if you allow the cited virus to download, it will proliferate the virus ... which only serves to cause other internet users to allow the virus to send the same text message to other users.
By forwarding this warning, you perform the same disservice to your friends, even though you (and they) have not been infected by the virus.
If you are sufficiently concerned, you will follow the provided links to the Snopes article, and from there click on the link to the Macafee description of the virus.
Does that link warn you that the virus will ["... burn ..."] "... the whole hard disc C of your computer"?
No.
Macafee warns the user ( in November, 2006):
Method of Infection -
The URL in the message points to a site hosting the a cocktail of browser and application exploits. On visiting the site, a silent drive-by install of malware is attempted on unpatched machines.
WHY IS THIS VIRUS BAD?
The virus is 'bad" because it proliferates itself by sending a message to everyone in your address book.
WHY IS THIS EMAIL BAD?
The email is "bad" because it encourages you to send a (bogus) message to everyone in your address book.
Essentially, if the original virus cannot "infect" your computer, the 'hoax' message has the same perturbing effect, except that they don't need to infect your computer as long as they can infect your mind.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE?
There is no practical difference.
The virus sends null-value email to your friends, which upsets them.
The hoax email encourages you to send null-value email to your friends, with the same result ... except that the email which you send has a more 'human' context, which tends to make it more believable.
WHAT SHOULD YOU DO TO PROTECT YOURSELF AND YOUR FRIENDS?
- Never forward virus warnings before confirming their validity.
- Confirm the validity of virus warnings by checking 'trusted sites'. Such sites would include Norton Antivirus and Macafee Threat Center.
- If you do not already subscribe to a trusted Anti-Virus software, do so now. I personally subscribe to Norton Antivirus (from Symantec, which costs me less than $50/year). An alternative is Macafee Antivirus, based on a different price structure. ("You get what you pay for". YMMV.)
- If you must forward a 'warning' email, be sure that you have already visited referenced sites and confirmed the validity of the claims made in the original email. In this specific instance, the recipient is told that "... I checked with Norton Anti-Virus, and they are gearing up for this virus! I checked Snopes (URL above:), and it is for real!!" In truth, neither Snopes or Norton (nor Macafee) have confirmed that "... This virus was discovered by McAfee yesterday, 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." Again, this particular virus was discovered and defined six months ago, and ALL reputable Anti-Virus services have updated their virus databases to protect their subscribers. If you are not now a subscriber, you should be.
- If you are in doubt about the validity of the warning, send the warning email to a trusted friend who you believe to be knowledgeable, and ask him/her to confirm or deny the claims of the warning email.
- Finally, if in doubt ... don't forward ANY email which claims to be alerting you 'as a friend'. This is true if you received it from someone who you trust, both technically and ethically; it is true even if you receive the warning from someone whom you trust. Email addresses are hi-jacked every day, the owner of that email address often does not control the ability of spammers to identify and steal their email address. This is why the email address of the owner of this blog provides his address as a graphic (at the end of the blog page) rather than in a clear "mailto:thisisbogus@anyip.net" kind of link.
If you receive this kind of email in the future, there is one a single priority which you must, above all other considerations, abide by:
Don't send it to me!
It's junk-mail of the worst possible kind, and I don't want to waste my time dealing with your misplaced priorities.
PS:
This sentence should be a wake-up call to you; if it's included, you know that the original sender is encouraging you to forward it to your friends without examining it critically:
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.
NO! NO NO NO! "Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain." He is a liar.
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