[PEN-L:9652] Re: Virus warning

[Doug Henwood <dhenwood@xxxxxxxxx>]

Louis Proyect wrote:

> >From: Stavros Vanakaris <stavros@xxxxxxxxx>
> >To: all-users@xxxxxxxxx
> >Subject: NEW e-mail VIRUS 2!!!
> >Date: Thu, 22 Jul 1999 13:24:02 +0300
> >
> >ATTENTION !!
> >                  =============
> >
> >
> >IF YOU RECEIVE AN EMAIL WITH A FILE CALLED "CALIFORNIA," DO NOT OPEN
> >THE FILE.
> >THE FILE CONTAINS THE WOBBLER VIRUS.  THIS INFORMATION WAS ANNOUNCED
> >YESTERDAY MORNING FROM IBM; AOL STATES THAT THIS IS A VERY  DANGEROUS
> >VIRUS, MUCH WORSE THAN THE "MELISSA" VIRUS, AND THAT THERE IS NO REMEDY
> >FOR IT AT THIS TIME.
> >SOME VERY SICK INDIVIDUAL HAS SUCCEEDED IN USING THE REFORMAT FUNCTION
> >FROM NORTON UTILITIES CAUSING IT TO COMPLETELY ERASE ALL DOCUMENTS ON
> >THEHARD DRIVE. IT HAS BEEN DESIGNED TO  WORK WITH NETSCAPE NAVIGATOR AND
> >MICROSOFT INTERNET EXPLORER.
> >IT DESTROYS MACINTOSH AND IBM COMPATIBLE COMPUTERS. THIS IS A NEW, VERY
> >MALICIOUS VIRUS AND NOT MANY PEOPLE KNOW ABOUT IT.
> >PASS THIS WARNING ALONG TO EVERYONE IN YOUR ADDRESS BOOK AND PLEASE
> >SHARE IT WITH ALL YOUR
> >ONLINE FRIENDS ASAP SO THAT THIS THREAT MAY BE STOPPED.

 From the Symantec Anti-Virus Research Center
<http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/wobbler-hoax.html>:

>VirusName:	WOBBLER Virus Hoax
>Aliases:	none
>Known Variants:	Hoax
>Infection Length:	Hoax
>Area of Infection:	Hoax
>Likelihood:	Hoax
>Region Reported:	email
>Keys:	Hoax
>
>Description:
>This information is a hoax and should be ignored.
>Sample of hoax message:
>
>Dear All,
>For your reference, take necessary precautions. If you receive an
>email with a file called California, do not open the file. The file
>contains WOBBLER virus.
>
>WARNING
>This information was announced yesterday morning from IBM; AOL
>states that this is a very dangerous virus, much worse than
>"Melissa", and that there is NO remedy for it at this time. Some
>very sick individual has succeeded in using the reformat function
>from Norton Utilities causing it to completely erase all documents
>on the hard drive. It has been designed to work with Netscape
>Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer. It destroys Macintosh and
>IBM compatible computers. This is a new, very malicious virus and
>not many people know about it.
>Please ignore any messages regarding this "hoax" and do not pass on
>any messages regarding it. Passing on messages about this hoax
>serves only to further propagate it.
>Write-up by: Motoaki Yamamura
>Updated: May 15, 1999