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The Truth About Internet Virus Hoaxes

According to the U.S. Dept of Energy's Computer Incident Advisory Capability (CIAC), virus hoaxes first appeared on the Internet in 1988. Computer users worldwide fall prey to these hoaxes, and even experienced online users become "victims." The virus hoax becomes somewhat of a chain letter when it gets passed around from person to person.

Essentially, the basic hoax goes like this: an Internet user gets an E-mail message telling him if he receives an E-mail with a certain title as its subject, to NOT open it, or else it will wipe out his hard drive, or damage his computer in some way. For example, the virus hoax "Join the Crew" reads, "WARNING! If you receive an E-mail titled 'Join the Crew,' DO NOT open it! It will erase EVERYTHING on your hard drive! Send this letter out to as many people as you can. this is a new virus that is not yet detectable." Other hoaxes which give pretty much the same message are "Win a Holiday," "Unable to Deliver," "PenPal Greetings," and the famous and popular "Good Times" hoax.

The truth of the matter is this: merely reading an E-mail message can NOT damage your PC's hard drive, or cause a computer crash, or any similar consequence. E-mail is text; text is letters and numbers; the display of letters and numbers on a computer screen is totally harmless and cannot result in your PC contracting a virus. Many people, even experienced computer users, don't realize this.

However, you DO need to be careful of something, and that something concerns E-mail ATTACHMENTS. Downloading an attached executable file (one that ends in the extension .EXE, .COM, or .BAT, for example) CAN trip a virus and, when that happens, the malicious program can wreak havoc on your computer. The warning, therefore, is this: DO NOT, under ANY circumstances, download, open, or execute any kind of file attached to an E-mail message unless 1) you are absolutely certain of its contents (e.g., a .TXT file containing only text, such as a report or a resume), 2) you are certain about and know the person who sent it to you, and 3) you are able to first pass it through a reliable anti-virus program before opening it, if you must open it. Of course, the cardinal rule is, when in doubt, delete the entire E-mail message, including any attached files.

Rob Rosenberger, a security analyst at a Fortune 1000 company in St. Louis and webmaster of the Computer Virus Myths Homepage says, "There are so many new people on the 'Net who read about evil geniouses who spread viruses in a temper tantrum, and they believe it. So, when they see an alert, they think they have to forward it." Thus, when a user gets the virus hoax, he tells four friends, and they tell four friends, and THEY tell four friends, and before long -- to borrow a line from a popular Bee Gees tune -- someone's started a joke that's started the whole world crying.

Companies and corporation are especially vulnerable to the spread of these hoaxes within their organization. Friends forward the E-mails to friends at work, who in turn send them out to their co-workers, and by the time the company's information systems (IS) department gets wind of it, it has spread throughout the company. For the users spreading the hoax, embarassment is pretty much the only consequence, but for the IS department, answering the call for help, sifting through E-mail, researching the incident, and trying to undo the panic amongst users, can easily result in a day's work per incident. Rosenberger says, "Time is money. Resources are money. A hoax costs money."

After all is said and done, remember these three key points:

1. Do NOT forward a hoax (it only clogs up the network);
2. NEVER download or open any attached files unless you are certain of their contents or origin; and
3. When in doubt, delete the entire message, including the attached file.

We hope the above information has been helpful. We at HyperMedia Solutions International are available for all your PC computing needs. If you have any questions about any information in this article, please call us at 800-484-6960, x4714, or E-mail us at hypermedia@usa.com. We would be glad to answer all of your questions and provide you with any information you may need. Our company can perform an analysis of your computer usage and needs, and then recommend and obtain reliable anti-virus software for your PC, which is MANDATORY to have if you are an Internet user or frequently share diskettes with friends and colleagues. Our personal computer and Internet consulting services can provide you with honest information and reliable solutions to all of your computer questions and problems.

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