Dealing with virus hoaxes, Part 1: Use common sense

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Instead of using their heads, they followed the instructions in the fake "warning" and deleted a file needed by Windows.

technofile
Al Fasoldt's reviews and commentaries, continuously available online since 1983

Dealing with hoaxes, Part 1: Use common sense

June 20, 2001

By Al Fasoldt
Copyright © 2001, Al Fasoldt
Copyright © 2001, The Syracuse Newspapers

   The "Dummies" books on how to use computers insult our intelligence more than many of us could realize. By reinforcing our worst fear, they keep us from taking a very important step each time we have a question or a problem related to computers.
   That important step is what my mother used to call "using your head." If I came in from playing in the sand pit behind our house and asked her if I had to put my dirty clothes in the washer, she'd say "Use your head." It was her standard response whenever I tried to get out of little decisions.
   You need a mom like that when you're dealing with virus warnings. Two things happened in the last few weeks that show how much we all need that kind of simple advice.
   First there was an e-mail message "warning" about an alleged virus that infects a file called SULFNBK.EXE. It was a hoax, but that didn't mean anything to millions of Windows users all over the world.
   Instead of using their heads, they passed this fake warning to all their friends. Hundreds of thousands of Windows users followed the instructions in the fake "warning" and deleted a file needed by Windows.
   Imagine finding a note tacked to your front door some morning. It's from a stranger. It says microwave ovens cause sunstroke, and it tells you to toss your microwave oven into the trash immediately. (And, of course, it urges you to warn all your friends about this "danger" and tell them to do the same.)
   I don't even have to guess what you'd do with that note. You'd use your head. You'd wonder how anyone could be so crazy and go on your way.
   What's so different about an e-mail message written by a stranger? Signs of hoaxdom were clear.
   First, the "warning" came from a stranger. Sure, it was passed on to you by your sister-in-law, but she didn't write it. It was written by someone she didn't know -- someone you didn't know.
   Second, it started out with a piece of nonsense silliness. "Do you believe that a friend of mine sent me an alert," the hoax said. Who would send out a serious warning that started out "Would you believe...."? (The fact that the hoax actually said "Do you believe ..." is evidence that it was written by someone who does not speak English. We don't talk or write that way.)
   But what caught my eye when my friends and relatives sent me the "warning" was another sentence: "The file was there, hidden even of McAfee and Norton." Hidden OF? What kind of dumdum writes like that? The answer, of course, is an adolescent who knows very little English -- a "script kiddie" from Bulgaria, maybe, where half the world's viruses originate.
   Experts who are trying to warn the rest of us about viruses don't write in Pidgin English. Use your head.
   A short time later another "warning" whizzed around the world. This one started out as a joke and soon became a stupid hoax. The "warning" said that Windows users were being hit by a new kind of virus called "AOL.EXE." The way to deal with this new "virus," according to the hoax, was to track down and delete AOL.EXE from your computer's hard drive.
   As thousands upon thousands of unhappy Windows users discovered as soon as they followed this "urgent" advice, AOL.EXE is the program file for America Online. That's how AOL runs on a Windows computer. Deleting AOL.EXE means you're getting rid of the main AOL executable file, and, of course, that means AOL won't run any longer. Next: Tracking down the facts when you get a warning in the mail.