Thanks.
----------
From: Matt@anetMHS (Matt Campanella){MHS:matt.campane...@worldnet.att.net}
To: JEichner
Cc: emc-pstc@anetMHS{MHS:emc-p...@ieee.org}
Subject: Re: FW Virus Alert
List-Post: emc-pstc@listserv.ieee.org
Date: Friday, November 29, 1996 5:50AM
When dealing with viruses and virus warnings, it is perhaps better to
be safe than sorry. When the virus is a hoax, the "damage" is the fear
and time lost responding to the warnings. I suggest checking with the
U.S. Department of Energy CIAC virus database whenever you have concerns
about any virus. The CIAC virus database home page is at:
http://ciac.llnl.gov/ciac/CIACHome.html
According to the CIAC virus database the "Irina" virus is a hoax.
CIAC's "Internet Hoaxes: PKZ300, Irina, Good Times, Deeyenda, and Ghost"
can be found at:
http://ciac.llnl.gov/ciac/bulletins/h-05.shtml
The CIAC description for Irina is:
"The "Irina" virus warnings are a hoax. The former head of an electronic
publishing company circulated the warning to create publicity for a new
interactive book by the same name. The publishing company has apologized
for the publicity stunt that backfired and panicked Internet users
worldwide. The original warning claimed to be from a Professor Edward
Pridedaux of the College of Slavic Studies in London; there is no such
person or college. However, London's School of Slavonic and East
European Studies has been inundated with calls. This poorly thought-out
publicity stunt was highly irresponsible. For more information
pertaining to this hoax, reference the UK Daily Telegraph at
http://www.telegraph.co.uk.";
Since viral code MUST be execute to infect a system, it is not
possible to be infected by a virus by simply reading email. It IS
possible to be infected by an email enclosure which is an executable
file. As with any executable file from an unknown or questionable
souce, care should be exercised before running them. Application macro
files may seem to infect your application when simple opened but in
reality infection only occurs when they are executed perhaps by the
applications auto-execute function.
Regards,
Matt
