VIRUS WARNING

[garyjd]

I recieved an E-mail from a good friend concerning this and I thought I'd pass it along FWIW.~Gary

PLEASE INFORM EVERYONE

Emails with pictures of Osama Bin-Laden hanged are being sent and the moment that you open these emails your computer will crash and you will not be able to fix it! If you get an email along the lines of "Osama Bin Laden Captured" or "Osama Hanged" don't open the attachment. This e-mail is being distributed through countries around the globe, but mainly in the US and Israel.

PLEASE FORWARD THIS WARNING AMONG FRIENDS, FAMILY AND CONTACTS:

You should be alert during the next days:
Do not! open any message with an attached filed called "Invitation" regardless of who sent it. It is a virus that opens an Olympic Torch which "burns" the whole hard disc C of your computer. This virus will be received from someone who has your e-mail address in his/her contact list, that is why you should send this e-mail to all your contacts. It is better to receive this message 25 times than to receive the virus and open it. If you receive a mail called "invitation", though sent by a friend, do not open it and shut down your computer immediately. This is the worst virus announced by CNN, it has been classified by Microsoft as the most destructive virus ever. This virus was discovered by McAfee yesterday, and there is no repair yet for this kind o! f virus. This virus simply destr oys the Zero Sector of the Hard Disc, where the vital information is kept.

 

[slaj]

Thanks for the tip off Gary

Stephen Mallia

 

[stev1eran]

Thanks Gary,
Although i cant understand why some idiots like to do things like this.
Steve

 

[Ernest]

thanks a lot, I recived the shitty email today by hotmail, but I did not open it...maybe someone wants to play me a bad joke :angry:

ER

 

[jaime]

Thanks Gary

 

[garyjd]

Originally posted by stev1eran@Oct 16 2006, 12:37 PM
i cant understand why some idiots like to do things like this.
Steve

Because they can.


Unfortunately millions of morons make up part of the world's population.~Gary

 

[Blind Pew]

Thank you Gary - I'll be sure to pass this on

 

[John Bowery]

Gary,
Thanksa million, I passed this on to all on my list.
John

 

[Brent Fordham]

I know that sending warnings like this are meant with the best intentions, and I do appreciate the heads-up, but beware, not everything you read is true . Not trying to pull a "told-you-so" here, just trying to pass on some info. A quick googling shows that the warning is a hoax, designed simply to eat up bandwidth. It's a mild virus in itself, I suppose. Most of these "virus" warnings are hoaxes, and I can't remember ever receiving one that turned out to be genuine. As always, the best defense is to have regularly updated, real-time virus protection software, and don't open attachments from people you don't trust.

The following are links to sites that provide info de-bunking the hoax:
Link 1
Link 2
Link 3

 

[garyjd]

Well, there is no harm done if it turns out to be a hoax. Best to be safe than sorry.~Gary

 

[Charles Denomolos]

Gary- my hard drive thanks you.

Working at a technical help desk, all of you would be shocked at the level of technical savvy many people have. I know I personally have to reimage 4 or 5 pc's a WEEK, and this is in a MAJOR corporation, with 30k+ computers, and and EXTREMELY aggresive anti spam/download policy. Despite this, we always get people who open up emails with NO conception of who the sender is, or what the subject is. Lucky for us, we can reimage a machine in less than an hour, but, times 5 machines, times 60 other analysts, that is 300 man hours a week, wasted.

As to why people do this, as Gary said, because they can. They choose to be maliicios little gits, and make problems for others. Someday, they will get caught. A hacker nerd in a prison general population.... ah, revenge will be ours!!!

 

[Paul Kernan]

Jim (or is it Charles ) Revenge would be sweet but it burns my a** when I hear about some company hiring these same tools (same for burglars) to revamp their security system. I guess they figure the best way to to fight a criminal mind is with a criminal mind. Maybe crime does pay

 

[Brent Fordham]

IRT Gary: I agree that it's better to be safe than sorry. And if nothing else, perhaps the hoax warning still serves to teach people to be vigilant regarding their emails.

Cheers, Brent F

 

[Charles Denomolos]

Paul, while some "hacker" have been hired in the past, for supposedly huge salaries, most of these stories are urban legends. Think about it from your perspective. If someone came into the firehouse, bragging about how they just torched a building, what would YOU guys do??????


First off, he's admitting to a crime, and he's telling the LAST people in the world he should be telling this to.........