Re: Virus Warning
Diane Eaton (deaton@spartan.ac.brocku.ca)
Thu, 23 Nov 1995 17:06:50 +0000
>I am sending this to all e-mail addresses I have. Sorry if you already have
>this or know about it. I just happen to feel that it is important.=20
>DEAR FRANK, PLEASE INFORM THE REST OF THE GROUP THAT THE GOOD TIMES VIRUS
>SCARE IS A HOAX. I HAVE A MESSAGE FROM U.S.DOE'S COMPUTER INCIDENT ADVISORY
>CAPABILITY DATED APRIL 24TH. I CAN PROVIDE MORE DETAIL IT YOU WISH BUT
>ESSENTIALLY THEY SAY THAT EVEN IF THE VIRUS DID EXIST, A MALICIOUS CODE BURIED
>IN THE BODY OF AN EMAIL MESSAGE THAT WOULD INFECT YOUR COMPUTER IS UNLIKELY
>SINCE THE CHARACTERS IN AN EMAIL MESSAGE ARE DISPLAYED NOT EXECUTED.THIS SCARE
>SHOWED UP LAST YEAR AROUND THIS TIME AND WAS DEBUNKED THEN AND AGAIN IN THE
>SPRING OF THIS YEAR.I CAN PROVIDE MORE INFO IF YOU WISH. DIANE EATON
>>>>*************************************************************
>>>>
>>>>SUBJECT: VIRUSES--IMPORTANT PLEASE READ IMMEDIATELY
>>>>
>>>> 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 foreward this mail to
>>>>anyone you care about.
>>>>
>>>>*************************************************************
>>>>
>>>>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 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 e-mail systems of the Internet. Once a computer
>>>>is infected, one of several things can happen. If the
>>>>computer constains 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 recieved- 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
>>>>recieve-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 recieve 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 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.
>>>>Chris Thompson - (416) 581-3478
>>>>Product Manager - Internetworking (Cisco/Digital Links)
>>>>Floor 3 South Tower, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5G 2E1
>>>>Bell Canada
>>>>=7F=7F=7Ffax: (416) 585-2442
>>>>E-mail: cthompso@on.bell.ca (cthompso, not cthompson!)
>>>
>>Les Peterdy
>>CharityCheck charity@io.org
>>46 Cecil Street
>>Toronto, Ontario M5T 1N4
>>Tel (416) 591-2349
>>Fax (416) 599-3925
>>
>>
>>
K. Diane Eaton
Brock University
St.Catharines, On. L2S 3A1
deaton@spartan.ac.brocku.ca