Irina virus hoax

[Shemina Keshvani]

For Candrama members' interest, I am forwarding this posting.

shemina keshvani

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Sat, 9 Nov 1996 17:24:24 -0800
From: Frank Conlon <conlon at u.washington.edu>
Reply-To: H-Net list for Asian History and Culture <H-ASIA at h-net.msu.edu>
To: Multiple recipients of list H-ASIA <H-ASIA at H-NET.MSU.EDU>
Subject: H-ASIA: The "Irina virus" hoax

                                H-ASIA
                            November 9, 1996

The "Irina virus" hoax.
Ed. note:  This is not about Asia, but since many of you will be
receiving warnings from well-meaning colleagues about the "Irina virus",
this post may be of some use to you.  The story that accompanies the
generation of the hoax may be good for a few laughs when next you are
visited by a representative of Penguin Books.           F.F.C.
************************************************************************
From: H-EDITOR Administrator <editor at h-net.msu.edu>

Dear Editors,

We're starting to get in warnings about an IRINA virus.  The scare letters
sound a lot like the Good Times Virus scare letters.  According to
reports, there are similar letters about the MMF hoax virus circulating,
as well as the ancient Good Times hoax.

The IRINA virus is a hoax.  It appears that people have realized that if
you tell a few people that there is an e-mail virus named anything that
will delete their hard drive if they open the e-mail, they will spread it
all over the Internet forever.  There is a lot of e-mail about Irina going
around now.  I checked the Penguin site, and they don't seem to be
apologizing yet.  Maybe they still think it's nice publicity for their
book.

Vickie Banks
H-NET Technical Assistance
help at h-net.msu.edu

               **********************************

This article copied from the "Computer Virus Myths" site:
http://www.kumite.com/myths/

Please check this site for additional information about computer
virus myths.


HOAX: "the Irina virus"

Rumors circulated in September 1996 of a "deadly new" virus known as
Irina. Virus researcher Graham Cluley claims this rumor closely resembles
the Good Times urban legend -- "you could [supposedly] be infected just by
receiving an email message, and that any infected computer would severely
damage the PC's CPU."

Reality:

Cluley uncovered a full-blown hoax while searching for the roots of Irina.
"The entire hoax was orchestrated by Penguin Books as a publicity stunt
for a new interactive book called Irina," he declared in a public Internet
message.

"According to the Daily Telegraph," continued Cluley, "Guy Gadney (the
former head of electronic publishing at Penguin) sent out a bogus letter
to newspapers and television stations giving a warning about the 'Irina'
virus. The message claimed to be from Professor Edward Prideaux of the
College of Slavonic Studies in London.

"Prideaux is one of the main characters in the Irina book Penguin is
planning to launch," Cluley noted. "Some newspapers received six copies of
the bogus letter, all signed by Prof Prideaux, but making no mention of
Penguin Books, a publicity campaign or that the warning was a PR stunt."
 ===========================================================================