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HOME TOPICS ABOUT ME Everyone who lets such a virus loose should sit in the corner wearing a dunce cap. |
technofile Al Fasoldt's reviews and commentaries, continuously available online since 1983 Latest threat: Viruses that prey on your good willSept. 5, 2001 By Al Fasoldt Copyright © 2001, Al Fasoldt Copyright © 2001, The Syracuse Newspapers I usually don't worry much, but lately I've become very concerned about a dangerous trend in the way computer viruses work. Increasingly, viruses seem to prey on the good nature of computer users. They take advantage of our willingness to help each other and they grab at us just when we are most vulnerable. Sircam, the virus that spread worldwide in just a few hours in July, did just that. By sneaking into Windows PCs and sending out copies of itself hidden in what seemed to be requests for help, Sircam took advantage of our good natures. Recently someone sent me another virus that preys on our desire to do the right thing. It arrived in my e-mail. Like so many other viruses and junk mail messages, the letter wasn't actually addressed to me -- it was sent to me blindly, in hopes that I wouldn't notice that my name wasn't in the "To:" line. But I've created a Spam filter that places all mail that's not addressed to me into a separate folder, so that's where I found the virus message. The message said it was from "customer_care" at AOL. Because there's no reason that AOL would send mail to someone who's not a subscriber, I was immediately suspicious. I checked and found that the address was bogus. The e-mail itself probably seems harmless to most Windows users who receive this virus. But it's absurdly brazen. It says the message "uses a character set that is not supported by the Internet Service." It's written in exactly that way, with the word "Service" capitalized. Duh. Internet Service? Is that like the Secret Service? The Postal Service? There's no such thing. That made my Doo-Doo Meter peg all the way up. This is a favorite trick of virus writers -- making up some sort of official-sounding government body to catch suckers off guard. Here's the rest of the brief message: "The message uses a character set that is not supported by the Internet Service. To view the original message content, open the attached message. If the text doesn't display correctly, save the attachment to disk, and then open it using a viewer that can display the original character set." But of course what really happens is something else. The virus is hiding in a file that seems to be a text, and when you open it (by double clicking on it) you launch the virus. It infects your Windows PC and mails itself out to a zillion other hapless Windows users. Avoiding this sort of virus is easy. It's so easy, in fact, that everyone who lets such a virus loose should sit in the corner wearing a dunce cap. All you have to do is follow my three-part rule of attachments: Don't open an attachment if you didn't ask for it, if you don't know what it is and if you don't know the person who sent it. It's THAT easy. Don't fall for this sort of mail. If you don't know the sender, toss it out. Don't open attachments unless they meet all three parts of my rule. Virus writers think you're going to be careless. It's time you made them very disappointed. |