Autor: Aleksander Tobolewski (darotob_at_cam.org)
Data: Sun 25 Feb 1996 - 14:26:34 MET
Wojciech Kruczynski wrote:
>
> Dostalem od znajomego. Dziele sie.
>
> There is a computer virus that is being sent across the Internet. If you
> receive an e-mail message with the subject line : "Good Times" DO
> NOT read the message!. DELETEE it immediately.
Tez dostalem od znajomego i dziele sie:
The "Good Times" "virus" never existed--it is a hoax started around
December 1994! which continues to be spread around. If you receive these
virus warnings, please do not continue to spread them around to others
without knowing what a virus can and can't do, as well as speaking with
a more knowledgeable person at your site. Usually--though not
always--the computer support persons will know more about new virus
reports than the average computer user on the Internet may.
Below is a FAQ (frequently-asked question list) on the hoax:
=====
Found at: http://www.physics.uiuc.edu/~weitzen/humor/hoax.html
see also: http://altavista.digital.com/ (search for "+good +times
+virus"
-------------------------------------
Is the Good Times email virus a hoax?
-------------------------------------
Yes. It's a hoax.
America Online, government computer security agencies, and makers
of anti-virus software have declared Good Times a hoax. See Online
References at the end of the FAQ.
Since the hoax began in December of 1994, no copy of the alleged
virus has ever been found, nor has there been a single verified
case of a viral attack.
-------------------------------------------------
Why should I believe the FAQ instead of the hoax?
-------------------------------------------------
Unlike the warnings that have been passed around, the FAQ is signed
and dated. I've included my email address, and the email addresses
of contributors, for verification. I've also provided online
references at the end of the FAQ so that you can confirm this
information for yourself.
-----------------------------------------------------------
I'm new to the Internet. What is the Good Times virus hoax?
-----------------------------------------------------------
The story is that a virus called Good Times is being carried by
email. Just reading a message with "Good Times" in the subject line
will erase your hard drive, or even destroy your computer's
processor. Needless to say, it's a hoax, but a lot of people
believed it.
The original message ended with instructions to "Forward this to
all your friends," and many people did just that. Warnings about
Good Times have been widely distributed on mailing lists, Usenet
newsgroups, and message boards.
The original hoax started in early December, 1994. It sprang up
again in March of 1995. IIn mid-April, a new version of the hoax
that mentioned a (long since retracted) FCC report began
circulating. Worried that Good Times would never go away, I decided
to write the FAQ and a separate report that chronicles the hoax's
history.
-------------------------------
What is the effect of the hoax?
-------------------------------
For those who already know it's a hoax, it's a nuisance to read the
repeated warnings. For people who don't know any better, it causes
needless concern and lost productivity.
The virus hoax infects mailing lists, bulletin boards, and Usenet
newsgroups.
---------------------------
What was the CIAC bulletin?
---------------------------
On December 6, 1994, the U.S. Department of Energy's CIAC (Computer
Incident Advisory Capability) issued a bulletin declaring the Good
Times virus a hoax and an urban legend.
----Begin quoted material----
THE "Good Times" VIRUS IS AN URBAN LEGEND
In the early part of December, CIAC started to receive information
requests about a supposed "virus" which could be contracted via
America OnLine, simply by reading a message.
THIS IS A HOAX. Upon investigation, CIAC has determined that this
message originated from both a user of America Online and a student
at a university at approximately the same time, and it was meant to
be a hoax.
If you encounter this message being distributed on any mailing
lists, simply ignore it or send a follow-up message stating that
this is a false rumor.
Karyn Pichnarczyk
CIAC Team
ciac_at_llnl.gov
Note: Karyn is now with Cisco. Her new email address is
karyn_at_cisco.com.
---------------------------
Is an email virus possible?
---------------------------
The short answer is no, not the way Good Times was described.
The longer answer is that this is a difficult question that's open
to nitpicking. Keep three things in mind when considering the
question:
*A virus is computer specific. IBM PC viruses don't affect
Macintoshes, and vice versa. That greatly limits the destructive
power of viruses. (And notice that none of the Good Times warnings
mention which types of computers are affected.)
*A virus, by definition, can't exist by itself. It must infect an
executable program. To transmit a virus by email, someone would
have to infect a file and attach the file to the email message. To
activate the virus, you would have to download and decode the file
attachment, then run the infected program. In that situation, the
email message is just a carrier for an infected file, just like a
floppy disk carrying an infected file.
*Some of the situations that people have dreamed up involve Trojan
horses rather than viruses. A virus can only exist inside another
program, which then automatically infects other programs. A Trojan
horse is a program that pretends to do something useful, but
instead does something nefarious. Trojans aren't infectious, so
they're much less common than viruses.
There are some email programs that can be set to automatically
download a file attachment, decode it, and execute the file
attachment. If you use such a program, you would be well advised to
disable the option to automatically execute file attachments.
You should, of course, be wary of any file attachments a stranger
sends you. At the least, you should check such file attachments for
viruses before running them.
Pozdrawiam Aleksander
To archiwum zostało wygenerowane przez hypermail 2.1.7 : Tue 18 May 2004 - 12:39:16 MET DST