From mramey@u.washington.edu Wed Mar 26 12:08:12 1997 Received: from jason04.u.washington.edu (jason04.u.washington.edu [140.142.78.5]) by lists.u.washington.edu (8.8.4+UW96.12/8.8.4+UW97.03) with ESMTP id MAA22674; Wed, 26 Mar 1997 12:08:11 -0800 Received: from saul5.u.washington.edu (saul5.u.washington.edu [140.142.83.3]) by jason04.u.washington.edu (8.8.4+UW96.12/8.8.4+UW97.03) with ESMTP id MAA15970; Wed, 26 Mar 1997 12:02:59 -0800 Received: from localhost (mramey@localhost) by saul5.u.washington.edu (8.8.4+UW96.12/8.8.4+UW97.03) with SMTP id MAA32358; Wed, 26 Mar 1997 12:08:10 -0800 (PST) Date: Wed, 26 Mar 1997 12:08:10 -0800 (PST) From: "'Mike' M Ramey" To: CIVE Department -- CIVE Faculty , CIVE Grads , cc: UW Computer Virus discussion forum Subject: PenPal Greetings is a HOAX. Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Thanks for your concern about computer viruses and other risks to the integrity of computer programs and data. Please note the following message from the makers of Dr Solomon;s Anti-Virus, which will tell you more about these risks. You may want to share this information with others who are concerned about safe and secure computing. Thank you, -Mike Ramey ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ File that you are currently viewing Linkname: Its the End of the World (as we know it) URL: http://www.drsolomon.com/special/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dr Solomon's 8th January 1997 Written by: [1]Graham Cluley "Its the End of the World (as we know it)" SOME HOAXES [2]Good Times/ [3]Irina/ [4]Deeyenda/ [5]PenPal Greetings/ [6]Ghost/ [7]Free Money/ [8]Eyes/ [9]Sheep/ [10]References VIRUS HOAXES In the old days only bearded techies with sandals were on the Internet. They were heavily into computers, they understood how computers worked (they had to in order to get on the net in the first place) - in a nutshell they were academic types. But times have changed. Today "the information superhighway" has caught the publics imagination, and Joe Public cant go anywhere without seeing magazines blaring on about the importance of being "wired" and how theyre not anyone in the nineties if theyve not got a webpage. And today the guys with the beards and sandals are in the minority becoming vastly outnumbered by the masses on America OnLine, CompuServe, MSN, and other easy-to-use service providers. Not all these service providers necessarily offer the same abilities as a raw direct connection to the net, but that doesnt matter to the masses. They want something thats pretty, and simple to navigate about with using a mouse, and - most vitally - gives them email. With email they can make friends, and keep in touch with people they would never dream of telephoning or writing a letter to. Its quick and simple and doesnt require walking down the road to a post box. Furthermore if someone emails you a funny joke you can forward it to all your friends. Very little effort and everyone thinks youre the funniest chap around.. and no chance of you fluffing the punch line. Another great thing about the internet is it can give people a sense of community. Anyone who has dropped into a newsgroup like alt.comp.virus soon finds out that its the equivalent of meeting friends down the pub. Although people are always quick to assist those who have a virus problem, theyre also there to chat about anything and everything. I have an account with an online conferencing system. Its Internet connection is pretty lousy, its newsfeed is patchy, but the reason why I and thousands of others choose to stay with it is because its "comfortable", its a community, its where our friends hang out. As well as sharing jokes with friends to keep them amused, were also concerned about their welfare. And if we hear about a problem its natural to warn our friends as well. It is this concern for fellow computer users which has ignited hoaxes into a significant problem. [ For the complete article, with detailed descriptions of the hoaxes listed above, go to the web address shown at the top. -Mike Ramey ] .