further clarification of validity of email virus notices

[Kathy Chung]

I hope Greg doesn't mind my forwarding his message , but here is a further
explanation re all those email virus hoaxes to flush out the excellent
comments by Winston and Andre.

Hopefully, the explanations will not become a form of the circulating
"virus" messages Winston discussed.  This will be the last one I'm
sending.

cheers, Kathy.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 17 Apr 1997 13:04:05 -0400
From: Greg Grainger <grainger at INTERLOG.COM>
Reply-To: "UTGRADENGL-L: Graduate English Students of the University of
              Toronto" <UTGRADENGL-L at listserv.utoronto.ca>
To: Multiple recipients of list UTGRADENGL-L
     <UTGRADENGL-L at listserv.utoronto.ca>
Subject: Re: Fwd: (Fwd) Another virus warning (fwd)

Kyla Tompkins writes:

[ . . . ]

> Subject: WARNING FOR VIRUS ON INTERNET  !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
>
> Please pass this email on !
>
> If anyone receives mail entitled; PENPAL GREETINGS! please delete it
> WITHOUT reading it!!  This is a warning for all Internet users - there
> is
> a dangerous virus propagating across the Internet through an e-mail
> message entitled

[ . . . ]

Thanks to Kyla for her consideration, but . . .

This message, and the supposed 'email virus' it refers to, is a HOAX.

The 'Penpal' virus is yet another incarnation of similar hoaxes that turn
up about every 6-8 months or so. The last two, as I recall, were named the
'Good Times' virus and the 'Happy Days' virus.

To reassure people: as far as I know, it is simply impossible to construct
a virus in the form of an email message. For one thing, it would present
itself on your screen as meaningless gibberish, not a readable message.
For another thing, a virus is a type of executable file; unless and until
you (or someone, or some other program) actually gives it the command to
activate itself, it lies dormant. The routine handling of email messages
does not involve passing an 'execute' command to the message itself.

Something else: a virus written to be executed, for example, on a DOS
platform will be a useless waste of space in a Windows environment, or an
OS/2 environment, or a Mac environment, or a UNIX environment. The
Internet is based on, and run by, UNIX machines. Most of us use DOS or
Windows or Mac. The writer of the supposed virus would have had to tailor
a virus for each type of machine used across the world, and then somehow
make sure that the right virus got delivered to the right machine, in
order for it to have any effect.

This does NOT mean that there are no such things as viruses out there. I
*strongly* recommend regular use of a virus scanner, or installation of an
anti-virus monitoring program. My personal favourites are F-PROT and
McAfee's. Both are free to DOS users, and can be obtained easily by ftp.
If anyone is interested in obtaining and using one or both of these
programs, let me know.

Greg.

--
                             Greg Grainger
                         grainger at interlog.com
         'Happy as nine dollars worth of lettuce.' -  Damon Runyon