Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/01/20

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Subject: Re: [Leica] Fwd: EMAIL VIRUS
From: "Patrick G. Sobalvarro" <pgs@sobalvarro.org>
Date: Tue, 20 Jan 1998 12:04:17 +0000

On 19 Jan 98 at 21:00, Norman Milks wrote:

> Attention LUGgers...The following message was just forwarded to
> our staff by Dan Rose, the Financial Officer of the school district
> in which I teach.  BTW, Dan is not a prankster, this is genuine
> concern.  I realize it's a bit off topic,  but it occurred to me
> that it might throw a helluva wrench in the LUG if our members (or
> their tools) were to become infected.  Norman Milks...over 'n out.
> [:-)
> 
> VIRUS WARNING
> 
> 	If you receive an email titled =22JOIN THE CREW=22 DO NOT open it.

Hello, Norman -- you've been had.  So has Dan Rose, who may not be a 
prankster, but is the victim of one.  The "Join the Crew" virus 
message is a hoax, like the "lights out" story about the gang members 
who drive around at night with their headlights out and follow you to 
your house and kill you if you flash yours at them.  There is no 
basis in truth to these stories; they're just hooey.

There is a way you can be sure about virus stories, and set Dan Rose
straight the next time he sends on of these messages.  Visit the
U.S. Department of Energy Computer Incident Advisory Capability
virus hoax page at

<http://ciac.llnl.gov/ciac/CIACHoaxes.html>

where these are catalogued.  The U.S. government is actually very 
serious about viruses, and has managed to hire some capable 
people who respond immediately, 24 hours a day, if there's a new 
one.  If there were a new virus around, and there would be 
information on their site about it before Dan Rose heard about it 
(his "Join the Crew" hoax is a couple of years old).

- -Patrick