Fw: reported e-mail virus

[Sandra Kisner]

Both the Good Times and xxx-1 "virus" warnings are hoaxes.  Please do
not spread them.

Sandra Kisner
sjk3 at cornell.edu
------------------------------
Subject: reported e-mail virus

This was just distributed by Mann Library technical staff.

>Attached is an excerpt from the Dec. 6, 1994 issue of CIAC Notes, a
>computer and net security pub from the US Dept. of Energy's Computer
>Incident Advisory Capability (CIAC) group.
>
>_Vin McLellan
>   The Privacy Guild
>
>////////////DOE CIAC Text Begins Here ///////////////////
>
>THE "Good Times" VIRUS IS AN URBAN LEGEND
>
>In the early part of December, CIAC started to receive information requests
>about a supposed "virus" which could be contracted via America OnLine, simply
>by reading a message.  The following is the message that CIAC received:
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
>| Here is some important information. Beware of a file called Goodtimes.    |
>|                                                                           |
>|  Happy Chanukah everyone, and be careful out there. There is a virus on   |
>| America Online being sent by E-Mail.  If you get anything called "Good    |
>| Times", DON'T read it or download it.  It is a virus that will erase your |
>| hard drive.  Forward this to all your friends.  It may help them a lot.   |
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>THIS IS A HOAX.  Upon investigation, CIAC has determined that this message
>originated from both a user of America Online and a student at a university
>at approximately the same time, and it was meant to be a hoax.
>
>CIAC has also seen other variations of this hoax, the main one is that any
>electronic mail message with the subject line of "xxx-1" will infect your
>computer.
>
>This rumor has been spreading very widely.  This spread is due mainly to the
>fact that many people have seen a message with "Good Times" in the header.
>They delete the message without reading it, thus believing that they have
>saved themselves from being attacked. These first-hand reports give a false
>sense of credibility to the alert message.
>
>There has been one confirmation of a person who received a message with
>"xxx-1" in the header, but an empty message body.  Then, (in a panic, because
>he had heard the alert), he checked his PC for viruses (the first time he
>checked his machine in months) and found a pre-existing virus on his machine.
> He incorrectly came to the conclusion that the E-mail message gave him the
>virus (this particular virus could NOT POSSIBLY have spread via an E-mail
>message).  This person then spread his alert.
>
>As of this date, there are no known viruses which can infect merely through
>reading a mail message.  For a virus to spread some program must be executed.
>Reading a mail message does not execute the mail message.  Yes, Trojans have
>been found as executable attachments to mail messages, the most notorious
>being the IBM VM Christmas Card Trojan of 1987, also the TERM MODULE Worm
>(reference CIAC Bulletin B-7) and the GAME2 MODULE Worm (CIAC Bulletin B-12).
> But this is not the case for this particular "virus" alert.
>
>If you encounter this message being distributed on any mailing lists, simply
>ignore it or send a follow-up message stating that this is a false rumor.
>
>Karyn Pichnarczyk
>CIAC Team
>ciac at llnl.gov
>
>

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ben Trelease                                     EMail: bwt4 at cornell.edu
Staff Computing Support                          Phone: (607) 255-3091

Albert R. Mann Library                           Fax:   (607) 255-0318
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14850
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Marty Schlabach                                 
Information Services Coordinator                E-mail: mls5 at cornell.edu
Mann Library                                    Phone:  607-255-7959
Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853            Fax:    607-255-0318      	
      	
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=