| From: | Matti Aistrich <aistrich@********.hkkk.fi> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | E-mail virus |
| Date: | Fri, 23 Feb 1996 12:30:05 +0200 (EET) |
> *********************Forwarded Message****************************
>
> There is a computer virus that is being sent across the Internet. If
> you receive an e-mail message with the subject line "Good Times", DO
> NOT read the message, DELETE it immediately. Please read the
> messages below.
>
> Some miscreant is sending e-mail under the title "good times"
> nation-wide. 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--I
> have.
>
> *********************Forwarded Message****************************
>
> WARNING!!!!!!!!!: INTERNET VIRUS
>
>
> 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 Online
> 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 e-mail 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 e-mail message with the subject line reading
> simply "Good Times".
>
> Avoiding infection is easy once the file has been received - 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 e-mail address is contained in a received-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 here is - if you receive a file with the subject line
> "Good Times", delete it immediately! Do not read it! Rest
> assured that whoever's name was on the "From:" line was surely stuck
> by the virus.
>
>
